Each of us knows someone who makes serving and loving others look so easy, so natural, almost like breathing. I was blessed to have a second mother after I lost my own mom to leukemia when I was 14. Many of you have experienced and witnessed similar situations, and know it is not an easy task to blend existing families. My second mother had 4 children of her own which she cared and provided for after she lost her first husband to cancer. She and my father met on a blind date and decided to unite his five, and her four. It was quite a feat, with many daunting and overwhelming challenges, which I am still learning to understand and appreciate. I am certain there were many, many days and nights she wondered if she had made the best decision.
There are many lessons I have learned from Mom #2, but probably the most obvious is that serving and breathing are two things she does simultaneously and unconsciously. I tend to mull over the idea of serving in my head – will it be convenient, can I fit it in, will it be uncomfortable, what will I have to give up, will it cost me and on and on. Not Mom #2. She acts on the thought or suggestion immediately. Before the idea has left the source, she is on it – making plans, making it happen, it is a done deal. She always found the widows and single mothers who needed a little extra and asked them to bake, sew, clean, iron – she found out what each could do and then compensated them for their services. Then she often turned around and gave what she had purchased to someone else who needed it. There was always extra for the little lady up the street, or a little something for the single mother across the way. She was so aware and so willing. I now know that the Spirit made her aware because she was so willing. I should not be writing in the past tense. Mom #2 is still going strong. She cared for my sightless aging father for many, many years before his passing, with much patience and tenderness. She continues to serve and breathe simultaneously – thinking she can still unload the truck when her grandchildren move to a new home, feed the 100+ children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, or provide a home for a displaced family or ward member. Why do I share this with you?
Sisters, as a stake we have traditionally sponsored some kind of activity in conjunction with the General Relief Society Broadcast in September. Messages from the recent General Conference have inspired us to look closer to home to find those who need a helping hand – to try to serve and meet the needs of our own friends and neighbors. We’re hoping we can continue to catch the vision of the early sisters who created this wondrous sisterhood as they cared for one another, shared one another’s burdens, and lifted the hands that hang down (Hebrews 12:12). Your wards will be sponsoring a Day of Service in the next couple of months. As a stake Relief Society presidency we have encouraged the ward Relief Societies to be very involved in this service, perhaps initiating their own unique projects. We hope each of you will make yourselves aware of this effort and choose to be involved. It is a Win – Win proposition. Great blessings will be yours.
I really want to get to the place where serving is as natural as breathing. I am so in awe of each of you – daughters of a Heavenly Father who loves you, and you love Him. You truly are ministering angels as you go about loving and serving those within your spheres of influence, and I am so grateful to be in your midst and learn at your feet.
“By small and simple things are great things brought to pass . . . And by very small means the Lord . . . bringeth about the salvation of many souls” (Alma 37: 6-7).
“When one knows that somebody cares, she keeps a small corner of her soul clean and lit.”
(from The Power of One)
With love and affection,
Cathy Stringham
“By small and simple things are great things brought to pass . . . And by very small means the Lord . . . bringeth about the salvation of many souls” (Alma 37: 6-7).
“When one knows that somebody cares, she keeps a small corner of her soul clean and lit.”
(from The Power of One)
With love and affection,
Cathy Stringham
