A friend of mine asked me if I would be able to take a meal over to a young mom in our community who had just had surgery. I said of course I would. So this afternoon I made up a delicious dish that I had made earlier in the week(you can find the recipe here) and took it to her, along with a copy of the recipe, as I was headed out of town. She was so very thankful, she couldn't say thank you enough times. I was so glad to have been able to help her out and headed on my way, not to think much of it again. Later in the evening, after the supper hour, I received a text from this mom, expressing her gratitude for both the meal and the recipe because it was just that good. She expressed how she has never had anything like this happen before and how she hoped to be able to return the favour sometime. Her gratitude was so honest and so sincere. I have had many opportunities to take meals to people in our church for various reasons, but I don't ever recall gratitude being expressed in this same way before.
I have never felt it so deeply from anyone and that got me thinking. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving others in common place. We are taught by the book of Mormon Prophet and ruler, King Benjamin that "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your god."(Mosiah 2:17)
Because this is much of who we are, especially in the Relief Society organization of the church, this kind of service is common place. And I wonder if, because it is so common place, if maybe we just get used to it, and maybe even expect it, and so maybe we forget to show our gratitude as we should, as this young mom showed towards me.
And that got me thinking some more, it make me look inward. It made me reflect on times that such service was offered to me. How did I show my gratitude toward those who were serving me? Was it just a casual "thank you" or did I try to really express how much it was appreciated? I am certain there have been plenty of time that my gratitude has not been as sincere as it should have been, but I also can think of a couple of times where I hope that what I tried to express, matched how I was feeling towards those who had offered their hands in service to me.
In the end, I have determined to be much more honest and sincere in my gratitude, both towards men and towards God.
