Called to Serve

“…he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Matt. 23:11

I suppose I should count the actual number of times this counsel appears in scripture, but suffice it to say, it is a lot.  I wonder if, not only is something very important (obviously) that is repeated in scripture, but it is also one of those lessons that bears repeating because our understanding of it will grow each time. Each time we read and ponder it, each time we strive to apply it.

I love this counsel, and I think, I hope, I’ve made great strides in applying it in my own life, but I think there are still those times, and probably will be many more to come, when this counsel will continue to unfold before me line upon line, and precept upon precept; here a little and there a little.  One of those times happened just this morning.

The Freckled Canvas

We held our little ward troop’s pinewood derby this past Tuesday.  It was the last one I’ll be involved in as a parent. As we prepared for the pinewood derby, I thought about how I could serve the little scouts.  It became apparent in my ponderings that I wanted to be sure each scout felt the joy of accomplishment at the derby, so I began to work on an idea to honor each scout and their hard work on their cars no matter their speed.

I found an idea on pinterest of making “medals” from wood.  We just happened to have some large branches left in our backyard from a dead birch tree and I figured this would be perfect.  My husband used his chop saw to cut little discs from a perfectly sized branch and then suggested I attached ribbons with his staple gun, a suggestion that proved much quicker and easier than hot glue.  We attached some blue and gold ribbon, and I found that writing on them with first a blue marker and then a finer tipped gold marker produced a beautiful result. 

 

I wish I would have thought to take a picture of all the finished medals, but you get the idea.  We waited until the event so we could make the awards fun and based on the cars the boys brought.  We gave out "Wildest" to a car painted with tiger stripes, "Most Invisible" to an impossibly skinny car painted a sleek black, "Most Heroic" to a police car.  You get the idea.

The medals were a hit.  The boys seemed to love them, and well, you might think my example and story end here…patting myself on the back.  Yep, I admit it, I was patting myself on the back for a job well done and service faithfully rendered.  And I guess probably a little of that might even be warranted.  I don’t want to take away from this idea, or suggest I shouldn’t have been hoping to give each boy a special night.  I still think it was a great idea.  I’m grateful for the opportunity to let each boy know his work and creativity was recognized.

But this morning as I was thinking about what I should blog about and wondering if these pinewood derby medals that turned out so well would be a good idea, the thought came into my head, “Do you think you are the only one who rendered service that night?  Do you think you were the greatest because of the particular service rendered that night?”  And I realized that although I started out well, I was in danger of finishing poorly. It took me until this morning to really begin to realize that although it was a good service, I was not really recognizing in my heart all those who gave of themselves that night.  Not that I was ungrateful, just taking it all for granted.  And as I realized that, I began to see other opportunities for service that had presented themselves to me that night that I had missed.

So this morning I am more grateful for the lady who took the time to post this idea on pinterest, for my husband’s help in making the medals, for the beautiful ladies who helped me decide what would make a good title for each award—couldn’t have done it without several creative voices that night, for the lovely woman who helped me write the words on each medal, for the cubmaster who keeps coming to help out even though he is actually not the cubmaster anymore (we don’t currently have one), for the committee chairwoman for scheduling and planning so many details of the night and for her husband for donating the track as well as coming to set it up and take it down, for the den leaders who do so much every week and came early to decorate, and the committee member who went above the call of duty to make sure the decorating went off successfully.  I am correcting my omission by thanking them today. 

As for the service opportunities, what were they you may ask.  Well, they were all small.  Sincerely thanking these individuals that night would have been a good start and taken only a few seconds each.  If I had been less self aware and more aware of others, I may have remembered that one boy had brought an extra car for a friend that never showed, and one had come without a car because he thought he wouldn’t have fun building or racing it but was regretting that decision by the end of the night.  I would have thought to ask about a missing leader and let her know I was thinking of her right then, yet another thing I am correcting later.  The list goes on, but you get the idea.

I guess my lesson was not that my service wasn’t grand or special enough, nor that I should constantly beat myself up for missed opportunities.  Instead, I am more grateful for the opportunity I had to give love to others to begin with, and likewise, I am grateful for the loving counsel of my Heavenly Father, though the promptings of the Holy Ghost this morning to continue in the path I chose.  The counsel to realize that if I have stopped along that path of service at some point to congratulate myself on a job well done and to think I am indeed rising to greatness, well it is in that moment that I am probably missing some of those blessed, joyful opportunities to serve more, to love more, and to have my heart filled more completely and more abundantly with love.