Because I Have Been Given Much...

Sometimes it's hard to see through your current overwhelming circumstances (demands of young children, finances, demands of limited time, etc.) the needs of the greater populations of humankind.

As a young mother listening to General Conference it always hurt my heart, soul, and spirit to hear the Brethren encourage us to reach out-beyond ourselves when I could see so clearly my immediate families needs and us with such limited income. Oh yeah-I knew that as an American we had much more than people living in Third World Countries. I also knew that here in America we couldn't just live anywhere-there are deeds to property, contracts with landlords, required car insurances, etc. Hence with these constraints there was less 'disposable' income, less to spend frivolously.

I reasoned that if I could do things less expensively, live on less than we had I could reach out and help others. We had no savings. We had no inheritances. Yet...

So we ate out very little (even tortillas were homemade), vacationed more economically (camping or nothing at all) thus freeing some money. These steps made it easier to pay a full tithing, pay fast offerings, eat healthier, and have a few dollars to do something for others in need.

What were some of the words the Brethren had spoken that pricked my consciousness so much and made me want to live as frugally as I could? Things like these:

• If we want joy in our hearts, if we want the Spirit of the Lord in our lives, let us forget ourselves and reach out.
  
• I believe in the obligation and blessing of service. I speak of that service which is given without expectation of monetary reward. Most of the troubles of the world come because of human greed. What a therapeutic and wonderful thing it is for a man or woman to set aside all consideration of personal gain and reach out with strength and energy and purpose to help the unfortunate, to improve the community, to clean up the environment and beautify our surroundings. How much greater would be the suffering of the homeless and the hungry in our own communities without the service of hundreds of volunteers who give of their time and substance to assist them.
  
• By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves. “I complained because I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet.” The most effective medicine for the sickness of self-pity is to lose ourselves in the service of others.
  
• Let us now in our time, each one, reach out more generously to love those around us in the spirit of the Christ. It is not enough even to give alms to those in need. For as important as that is, it is as Sir Launfal, worn and old, learned from Him who shared his crust,
  • “the gift without the giver is bare;
    Who gives of himself with his alms feeds three,
    Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.”
  
  
• May the real meaning of the gospel distill into our hearts that we may realize that our lives, given us by God our Father, are to be used in the service of others.
  
• There are opportunities all around to stretch our lives and our interests in behalf of others.
  My plea is—if we want joy in our hearts, if we want the Spirit of the Lord in our lives, let us forget ourselves and reach out. Let us put in the background our own personal, selfish interests and reach out in service to others. In so doing, we will find the truth of the Master’s great promise of glad tidings:
  “Whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; or whosoever will save his life, shall be willing to lay it down for my sake; and if he is not willing to lay it down for my sake, he shall lose it.
  “But whosoever shall be willing to lose his life for my sake, and the gospel, the same shall save it”
  
• Where there is widespread poverty among our people, we must do all we can to help them to lift themselves, to establish their lives upon a foundation of self-reliance that can come of training.
  
• There is an old saying that if you give a man a fish, he will have a meal for a day. But if you teach him how to fish, he will eat for the remainder of his life.
  
• It is our solemn obligation, it is our certain responsibility, my brethren, to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees”
  
• And as we go forward, may we bless humanity with an outreach to all, lifting those who are downtrodden and oppressed, feeding and clothing the hungry and the needy, extending love and neighborliness to those about us who may not be part of this Church. But we can do better, so much better.
  
• There can be no doubt concerning our responsibility to the peoples of the earth. There can be no doubt that we are moving forward in pursuing that responsibility.
  
• We would care for one another in the Spirit of the Master, who reached out to comfort and heal.
  
• There is still so much of conflict in the world. There is terrible poverty, disease, and hatred. Man is still brutal in his inhumanity to man.

A good friend reminded me that in this life we need to 'pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and get on with living.'

Too right. Lose ourselves in the service to others so we can find ourselves at the last day on the right hand of the Savior.