Just Serve – Sentinel2Sentinel

10 Day Social Media Fast: Day 7

Last weekend was General Conference and it was absolutely wonderful. This weekend has been Stake Conference and today’s Sunday session was every bit as wonderful as last evening’s session.

Inspired by the things I heard speakers share today, I went back to the talks from last Sunday to add additional insights as to what I understood from this morning’s speakers.

Deep and Lasting Conversion to Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

World conditions increasingly require deepening individual conversion to and strengthening faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and His Atonement. The Lord has prepared us, line upon line, for the perilous times that we now face. In recent years, the Lord has guided us to address related core concerns, including:

Honoring the Sabbath day and the sacred ordinance of the sacrament has again been emphasized for the last three years.

Believe, Love, Do

The good news is, there is hope. There is a solution to the emptiness, vanity, and Weltschmerz of life. There is a solution to even the deepest hopelessness and discouragement you might feel.

Wounded

The Savior is our Good Samaritan,¹¹ sent “to heal the brokenhearted.”¹² He comes to us when others pass us by. With compassion, He places His healing balm on our wounds and binds them up. He carries us. He cares for us. He bids us, “Come unto me … and I shall heal [you].”¹³

Firm and Steadfast in the Faith of Christ

I am reminded of our mothers’ counsel: “Eat your vegetables; it will do you good.” Our mothers are right, and in the context of steadfastness in the faith, “eating your vegetables” is to pray constantly, to feast on the scriptures daily, to serve and worship in the Church, to worthily take the sacrament each week, to love your neighbor, and to take up your cross in obedience to God each day.²⁴

Shepherding Souls

Brothers and sisters, our greatest challenges and our greatest rewards may come as we minister to lost sheep. The members of the Church in the Book of Mormon “watch[ed] over their people, and did nourish them with things pertaining to righteousness.”¹⁶ We can follow their examples and remember that ministering is to be “led by the Spirit, … flexible, and … customized to the needs of each member.” It is also critical that we “seek to help individuals and families prepare for their next ordinance, keep [their] covenants … , and become self-reliant.”¹⁷

Luke 22: 32

But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

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Peaceful Day to #LightTheWorld

Called all of the family members last night.

Woke up after a fantastic night’s sleep. Doggies are in a happy place. The Honey-do got plenty of rest.

Today we are just hanging out and enjoying a peaceful day. It is the crowning day to #LightTheWorld and we are making plans to continue to serve throughout 2018,

Merry Christmas.

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Day 2: #LightTheWorld ~ I was thirsty…

Screen Shot 2017-12-01 at 1.02.15 PM.png The best part of #25Days25Ways is that service can be done in secret! No one has to know. So why am I blogging about it? Well, I am lazy and having a topic to discuss each day makes it easier on my brain. But do not get used to it because I could change my mind in a flash.

What I love about the Light the World site are the suggestions. It is usually easier to take a suggestion, think about it, and then come up with a way to make it work in my life or discuss it with my Honey-do to see what we come up with as a team. For example…

A few days ago we had a late night visit with someone. On the way home we stopped by Krispie Kreme. (Yeah, it is a daily temptation and that particular night we did not resist.) There were a couple of people ahead of us and then it was our turn. Oh yeah. Santa’s Belly was in the box before you could bat an eye…. Then we went all out with those insulated cups filled with hot chocolate, not to forget the whipped cream on top.

Being the chatter-box I began a short conversation with the man patiently waiting behind us. He was getting a box full of fresh off the line, warm, delicious doughnuts. Listening to him and enjoying his face light up as he described the delectable experience of nothing tasting “so good as one of those warm doughnuts melting in your mouth” made me smile.

So turning to my Honey-do we started a #LightTheWorld practice run. Honey-do quietly paid for the man’s doughnuts before we left. Then we tried to scurry away before he realized what happened but he zoomed out the door to tell us thanks.

Yesterday, on the offical first day of #25Days25Ways, I had a plan for what I was going to do. I began discussing a freely give opportunity that I wanted to do so Honey-do sat, patiently listened and agreed that my idea was just fine. But his face went a litte funny and within seconds he spilled the beans. It touched my heart.

Honey-do felt a prompting earlier as he was out and about, telling him to do something. Then he did it without second guessing himself. And then he took two steps more to go the extra mile in his act of service. The experience had touched him deeply and because of it, the Holy Spirit touched my heart equally so we both felt an incredible spark of warmth come over us.

Today, we counseled together again. And we each decided to do a little something for today’s theme.

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No, I will not tell you how we served today but I can tell you tomorrow is Day 3 and it has to with Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.

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Little light, big light.

Tonight Paul Hernandez gave a great sermon on a variety of sizes and intensity of lights as they related to his life and in things he has observed. It made me smile. He made me remember.

When I lived in Germany it took me a while to get over jet lag. Drove my Honey-do crazy. He had to put down the rolladens (video below) to make the place pitch black and turn his alarm away from my being able to see the glow of the clock for the faintest stream of light would wake me up.

Any tiny, faint stream of light would make me panic that he had overslept and I would wake him up at three or four in the morning telling him to wake up, his alarm had not gone off.

Still cracks me up.

So when Paul Hernandez made his point to #LightTheWorld with the light which we carry, no matter the size of the light that burns within us, even the tiniest, little light can be a source of great happiness, of comfort, of joy for someone else.

Do not hide it under a bushel. Embrace #25Days25Ways

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Enjoying beautiful music

For the last few hours I have been going through some of my favorites songs on YouTube. My heart is filled with joy as I think about this Christmas season and how I want to #LightTheWorld.

Five days and counting! Thinking of the 25 ways in 25 days of service opportunities!

Love ThePianoGuys.com

Love the MormonTabernacleChoir.org featuring DavidArchuleta.com

and featuring BrianStokes.com

and Sissel.net …..

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Things that touch the heart

When I was in my late teens, perhaps barely twenty, I remember a gentleman giving a talk and mentioning how tears seem to fall a little easier when one grows older. He noted that it is not always about sadness, it is just that there are things in life that happen to touch the heart.

Psalms 8:3-6

3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

What great love our Heavenly Father has for all of His children. How thankful I am for this day to have felt that love, to have seen that love extended in a variety of ways to several people, including myself.

Matthew 7:7-8

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

May I always have a heart filled with gratitude so I can see and appreciate the wonders of this beautiful world Heavenly Father created for me.

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A little something finds a home

This week I cooked extra food to have ready in an effort to get a handle on my endless struggle to eat healthier. I made my first ever batch of Fennel Chicken and then I cooked my favorite Lamb Roast all on the same day. It ended up being a lot of food, which is okay because putting a few freezer meals to grab-n-reheat blesses my life. It blesses my husband, too, on those days when he does not feel like making his own lunch. (Like he says, “Food is Love.”)

And there is another bonus to having extra food ready-to-go. Like today when I walked with my friend to our vehicles after Church. She spoke about having a crazy week at work, a sore mishap with a gigantic bolt dropping off her car as she pulled into her place of employment, and then another full day of travel and cooking for a special family event. As we made our way down the sidewalk, she said, thinking out loud, “Oh, I forgot to put something in the crockpot so it would be ready when I got home.”

Light Bulb moment: I have some extra food already to share!

So I insisted that she follow me home as it was on the way to her house because I had something for her. I ran into the kitchen, pulled out a chicken dinner from the freezer and then sliced some lamb roast to finish filling in the container before running it out to my friend as she waited in her vehicle.

It was a meager offering and I was sorry I did not have all the trimmings to go with it, but it made me so happy to do just a little something for my friend. She has never had lamb before. I hope it all turns out to be a treat for her tastebuds.

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