Pages
About Me
Links
Tags
PERSONAL 520
SPIRITUAL 416
LDS 312
BOOK OF MORMON 237
SCRIPTURES 154
STUDIO-JOURNEY 129
RELIGION 112
LINUX 79
COMPUTERS 65
LIFE 60
GENERAL CONFERENCE 46
GENTOO 39
MISCELLANEOUS 37
MUSIC 37
PROGRAMMING 33
CARS 29
MICROSOFT 23
FAMILY 23
AUDIO 21
I LOVE MY JOURNAL 18
FUN 15
CHILDREN 12
CURRENT EVENTS 10
NATURE'S WAY 10
VIDEO 9
DRM 9
CONEXM 7
BABBLINGS 7
PROVO CITY CENTER TEMPLE 6
FRIENDS 6
HEROD THE FINK 5
GAMES 5
COMPUTER HARDWARE 5
DRUMS 4
HAND OF GOD 3
ADVERSITY 3
KDENLIVE 3
AUDIO HARDWARE 3
GENERAL INSANITY 3
STUDIO 3
THANKS4GIVING 2
CATS 2
MY JOURNAL 1
POETRY 1
FOREVERGREEN 1
EVERYDAY THOUGHTS 1
GOSPEL 1
PARENTING 1
YOUTH CONFERENCE 1
CHURCH NOTES 1
POLITICS 1
RSS Feed
Subscribe!Fri - Dec 07, 2007 : 05:43 pm
happy
 |
|
|
|
|
rated 0 times |
Service Through Love
A little less than a month ago, my best friend's wife called me and told me she was planning a birthday party for her hubby. Well, Scott being my best friend and all, I thought this was a fantastic idea! After that, I didn't think too terribly much about it.
A couple of days after that, I remember Scott telling me that he really wanted a computer which could record music from his piano again. So... I got on the horn with Steve, and through him, I fanagled to obtain a bunch of old computer parts. Steve and I put it all together and we spent a week working on the box, getting it ready for prime-time.
Turns out the day before Scott's birthday (Dec. 4th) was the day we finished polishing it all off.
The main reason for this entry isn't about the specifics of what Steve and I gave Scott, nor the actual birthday party.
It's about what makes people happy.
You see, building the computer for Scott wasn't hard or too troubling or even inconvenient for neither Steve nor me. The payoff for such little effort was something I'll most likely remember for years to come.
When Scott came through the door with all the lights off, and we all (there were 9 people there) shouted "Happy Birthday!", the look on Scott's face was.... hehe... I'm chuckling here as I remember it.
Scott's face was a combination of disbelief, wonder, and confusion for the first 3 mintues after walking into his house. After those emotions were done processing his demeanor turned directly toward sincere gratitude, with a twinge of disbelief still.
He hugged everyone there at least 3 times throughout the next hour. He hugged me many more times than that. Scott was sincerely happy.
Now, I've gotta ask... What is that worth? How long will that memory last for me? In contrasting that question, I take a look at what I do most of every day and ask the same thing.
The sad thing is, for me, I'd say 90% of the life I've lived till now is filled with stuff that is worth much less than the time I take filling it. 10% of the time I spend is filled with priceless memories.
Taking a look at the worth of my past and wondering how I can turn the tables, even if just a litlte bit, in favor of the pricless memories in the future yields a very simple answer. The answer is this:
Actively love and serve other people.
And by that, I mean really serve them. Through caring kindness, find out what their needs are and do your absolute best to serve them.
Although I haven't given it a lot of thought, I think right now that 100% of my fondest memories have come by service through love.
Now, I also need to ask myself, what if I changed my lifestyle to incorporate honest-to-sincerity service through love into my daily life (or weekly, if not daily).
If I'm being honest, it would change a lot of my daily habits. And quite honestly, that scares me. Not 100% sure I'm ready for that change in my life. However discouraging that statement may be, it's the truth.
Looking at service through the eye of honesty, I've gotta say that it's scary! A lot is at risk when you honestly serve people. There are many, many ways your time can be used without risking rejection and all other possibilities that come through service. Yup, life today can be lived with extremely little contact with other people - and that's easy.
But as much as that is easy, it's also worth very, very little (at least to me).
A prominent figure in my life comes to mind when talking about service through love. His name is Thomas S. Monson. He happens to be an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today.
I've often wondered, as well as my father, how in the world President Monson manages to have so many freaking wonderful memories about his past...!? Well... I think I just answered it. President Monson has lived a life rich with service through love. Nothing more than a guess, but I'd say at leat 50% of his entire life has been spent serving others through love. That creates some seriously rich and beautiful memories, as well as a nice bundle of other extremely productive things. I mean, how useful can a priceless memory be? They can change lives.
Anyway.... I just thought I'd jot down a couple of my thoughts I had today.
Who knows... Maybe tomorrow I'll be ready to point my life in a direction allowing me to serve more people, more often, with more love.
I know I'd be all the better for it.
Anyway... Happy Birthday Scott. I hope you enjoyed your birthday party as much as I did.
*smile*
A couple of days after that, I remember Scott telling me that he really wanted a computer which could record music from his piano again. So... I got on the horn with Steve, and through him, I fanagled to obtain a bunch of old computer parts. Steve and I put it all together and we spent a week working on the box, getting it ready for prime-time.
Turns out the day before Scott's birthday (Dec. 4th) was the day we finished polishing it all off.
The main reason for this entry isn't about the specifics of what Steve and I gave Scott, nor the actual birthday party.
It's about what makes people happy.
You see, building the computer for Scott wasn't hard or too troubling or even inconvenient for neither Steve nor me. The payoff for such little effort was something I'll most likely remember for years to come.
When Scott came through the door with all the lights off, and we all (there were 9 people there) shouted "Happy Birthday!", the look on Scott's face was.... hehe... I'm chuckling here as I remember it.
Scott's face was a combination of disbelief, wonder, and confusion for the first 3 mintues after walking into his house. After those emotions were done processing his demeanor turned directly toward sincere gratitude, with a twinge of disbelief still.
He hugged everyone there at least 3 times throughout the next hour. He hugged me many more times than that. Scott was sincerely happy.
Now, I've gotta ask... What is that worth? How long will that memory last for me? In contrasting that question, I take a look at what I do most of every day and ask the same thing.
The sad thing is, for me, I'd say 90% of the life I've lived till now is filled with stuff that is worth much less than the time I take filling it. 10% of the time I spend is filled with priceless memories.
Taking a look at the worth of my past and wondering how I can turn the tables, even if just a litlte bit, in favor of the pricless memories in the future yields a very simple answer. The answer is this:
Actively love and serve other people.
And by that, I mean really serve them. Through caring kindness, find out what their needs are and do your absolute best to serve them.
Although I haven't given it a lot of thought, I think right now that 100% of my fondest memories have come by service through love.
Now, I also need to ask myself, what if I changed my lifestyle to incorporate honest-to-sincerity service through love into my daily life (or weekly, if not daily).
If I'm being honest, it would change a lot of my daily habits. And quite honestly, that scares me. Not 100% sure I'm ready for that change in my life. However discouraging that statement may be, it's the truth.
Looking at service through the eye of honesty, I've gotta say that it's scary! A lot is at risk when you honestly serve people. There are many, many ways your time can be used without risking rejection and all other possibilities that come through service. Yup, life today can be lived with extremely little contact with other people - and that's easy.
But as much as that is easy, it's also worth very, very little (at least to me).
A prominent figure in my life comes to mind when talking about service through love. His name is Thomas S. Monson. He happens to be an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today.
I've often wondered, as well as my father, how in the world President Monson manages to have so many freaking wonderful memories about his past...!? Well... I think I just answered it. President Monson has lived a life rich with service through love. Nothing more than a guess, but I'd say at leat 50% of his entire life has been spent serving others through love. That creates some seriously rich and beautiful memories, as well as a nice bundle of other extremely productive things. I mean, how useful can a priceless memory be? They can change lives.
Anyway.... I just thought I'd jot down a couple of my thoughts I had today.
Who knows... Maybe tomorrow I'll be ready to point my life in a direction allowing me to serve more people, more often, with more love.
I know I'd be all the better for it.
Anyway... Happy Birthday Scott. I hope you enjoyed your birthday party as much as I did.
*smile*