Let me serve you....

First, I want you all to know that I'm not picking on any one in specific. I've offered to serve people before and you may have been one of those people, but not the only one so don't feel like this post is targeted directly at you. However, I hope it will result in you letting me help you.....

I think my sister Melanie said it VERY well in one of her posts... "I (Melanie) think it is great that babies are so dependent and that service is a necessity. Love is born through service and I can't think of a better way to develop Christ-like love for your children."

I've thought alot about service lately and after the talks yesterday I've decided it was time to do a little more. I remember being young and watching my mom serve an elderly lady that lived at the end of our block. We also have an adopted g-ma and g-pa who my mom helped take care. Even to the point that when my g-ma died and years later my parents moved to Utah they moved my g-pa there as well. So they could continue to watch over him. Remember this was not my mom's dad nor my dad's dad, but she would help him move into different homes and visited him often. She (and my dad) took care of him as if he were there own father. I'm soooo appreciative of my parents for serving this couple. One because they were WONDERFUL grandparents. We grew to love them sooooo very much. But, most importantly I'm appreciative of my mom and dad for being excellent examples of service. They served these people out of love. No one asked them to do it. They wanted to and because of their service these friendships were strengthened. It didn't just stop at their friendship though because as a result our (my brother and sisters) relationship grew towards this couple as well.
I've been thinking lately that I need to be better at serving others. Typically when I think of service I think of pulling an elderly couples weeds on a Saturday morning. However, it doesn't always have to be that elderly couple. It can be my friends. It can be cooking a meal for that friend that just had a baby or watching a friends kids for them so they could run errands, catch up on things around the house, go to an appointment, or simply giving them a much needed break. It could simply be giving that friend company who just needs to sit and talk. However, I've come to realize that often it is much easier to serve others than to allow others to serve you. After all, you don't want to feel like you can't do it on your own. I should be able to care for my newborn baby while giving each of my other kids the attention they need while keeping a tidy house, clean laundry, dinner on the table when dad walks in the door, etc. The truth is we can't do it all. That's why Heavenly Father wants us to serve others. More importantly he doesn't expect us to do it all. He knew we would need help. So it's time to let go of some of that pride and ALLOW others to help. Allow others to cook you a meal when they offer. Allow them to watch your kids. Allow them to give you that break.

So my dear friends... allow me to serve you. I promise it will only help strengthen our friendship. Most of my best friendships are a result of service (if not all of them). Let me be a better friend to you.