How Should We Serve?

In Mosiah 2:17 we read, "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." I have always read this often quoted verse and thought, "I better serve people, because if I don't serve God then I'm going to be in trouble!" There is a much better way that I can look at this.

Does God really need our help? If he wanted to do something by himself, couldn't he just do it? I heard some people talking about giving their children chores. Usually when you ask a child to do something, it takes quite a bit of reminding, and then when they finally do it, it usually needs to be done again anyways. It would take a lot less time and effort on both sides if the parent would just do it. So why shouldn't parents just do the chore themselves? Because what is more important is what is being taught. Our Heavenly Father is trying to teach us something important.

I remember the endless service projects that my dad would wake me up at six in the morning to do. Rarely if ever was I excited to go do something for someone. What made it even worse is it wasn't usually convenient for me either. I would go with my dad, but I would be complaining the whole way. In the end it wasn't always a bad experience, but I didn't usually come away with the warm fuzzy feeling that people generally talk about. I knew it was what I was supposed to do, but I sure didn't understand why!

Since that time I have come to love many people through serving them. I have learned that when we serve willingly we find what our Heavenly Father has intended us to learn, a love of all mankind. I know that when we serve others willingly we can gain Charity not only become the children that our Father wants us to be, but also be happier than we would ever be otherwise!