Convenient Service ~ Part One

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening,

this post should take approximately five minutes to read from start to finish.

What does "Convenient Service" means to you? What does "Convenient Service" means to a immediate relative? This post focuses on a BYU Devotional in July 2014, and it is called "Convenient Service" by Sister Sherry Patten Palmer. This post is part one. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the Devotional. 

Sister Palmer has mentioned the following; "... President Thomas S. Monson said, I believe the Savior is telling us that unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish and in effect save their lives. [“What Have I Done for Someone Today?” Ensign, November 2009, 85]

Furthermore, we read in Revelation 2:19: I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notice how “works” is in this scripture twice actually, I believe it is in there four times, as charity and service could also be “works.” 

Heavenly Father is saying here that He knows our works. So what works or service are we personally known for? Do we hesitate when confronted with the opportunity to serve? Is it convenient to serve? Or is service something we sign up for once in a while when the sign-up sheet is passed around?

... What of these people who are less fortunate than we are? How do we serve them? In my travels I have wondered why there is so much variation of wealth, health, or material blessings. What do others desire when
they appear to have so little? 

"As we serve, we draw closer to God." - Carl B. Cook.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said something that has helped me understand: God thus takes into merciful account not only our desires and our performance, but also the degrees of difficulty which our varied circumstances impose upon us. [“According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts,” Ensign, November 1996, 21]

Of course everybody has similar desires, but it is the performance and the degree of difficulty it takes for us to perform that God considers. God takes into account the degrees of difficulty. 

So what does that say when it truly is quite easy to give a little service because of our blessings and fortune? ... We have a low degree of difficulty, and we should really be getting off the couch, so to speak, and providing meaningful service. We are blessed for a reason. 

If it is only a little difficult to render service, should we not do it more often? If it is only a little inconvenient, why can’t we do it more frequently? What about those who have a higher degree of difficulty in providing service? Think of those who are struggling in the world. 

I am sure many missionaries can relate to the experiences I had while I was on my mission years ago. Families who had little to eat would prepare food for the missionaries. Surely these families have a different degree of difficulty when it comes to giving and rendering service. ... Even though there are material inequalities in the world, we all can have the righteous desire to serve.

And it is the pursuit of these righteous desires that measures our reward in heaven. We do not have to travel abroad to have fascinating and memorable experiences of service. We can and should start right here in our homes and neighborhoods. Jesus did not travel very far; often He served those very near to Him.

We have opportunities to serve by simply being sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters. We serve through our church callings and by being members of our wards. I often think that Heavenly Father will ask me, “What did you do to serve the women you visit taught?"

Stay Tuned until next time.