When Ye Are in the Service of Your
Fellow Beings Ye are only in the Service of Your God.
Mosiah 2:17
In the Book of Mormon King Benjamin
was such a great example to his people of service and had great love for his
people. King Benjamin was getting old and was soon going to die but before he
did he asked his son Mosiah to gather together the people of his kingdom so he
could teach them and share the things God wanted him to share with them. Many people came and King Benjamin’s voice
could not be carried to them all so he had a tower erected to project what he was
going to say. Even then so many people came to hear their beloved King teach
them that they all could not hear the sound of his voice and so he asked his
words to be written and taken to all.
These are some of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon.
I want to share one verse that is one
of my favorites and why it is. It is Mosiah 2:17
“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.”
The reason this is one of my
favorites is that it reminds me of my mom. A woman who was put in and out of an
orphan’s home as a child so her mom could run around. She would come back and
get them and then when she wanted to leave she would take her kids to the home.
My mom had a hard life. She was
married at the age of 14 to her first husband so she wouldn’t have to go back
to the home when her mom left again. Over the years she was married 5 times, she had
10 children that lived past 6 months between the first 4 husbands. This was a woman who could have been bitter
and angry at her lot in life. And maybe she was for a time. Until at the time
she became an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints. She had joined the church in the
late 1950’s but was not a participating member for very long. When I joined the church my mom after a year
or two started going again. She found a purpose in her life and never looked
back. She served constantly. Mom had some rough edges but her life of service
more than made up for it. Some examples of her service is that she served God
by serving in the Boy Scout program for more years than I remember. She was
always doing something with Boy Scouts. She received the honor of Silver
Beaver. For years she until she got too old she made peanut brittle for every
adult in the ward when it was their birthday. She had little earthly things but that didn’t
stop her from sharing what she had and serving others. This scripture in Mosiah
was so much of my mom that we had the idea of the verse engraved on her headstone.
People today
still when they talk of my mom they talk of her service and her giving even
when she gave more than she had.
If we all remember what Mosiah says
about when we serve others we are serving God we will serve with more
compassion, serve more willingly and as we serve our hearts will love others and
we will be blessed with Charity. The pure love of Christ. I am grateful for the example my mother showed her family of this principle.
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