Service and True Character
George Brimhall was the president of Brigham Young University many, many years ago. He had a great ability to move people. He gave a speech one night at the Provo Tabernacle where he said this:
“You can’t tell the character of an individual by the way he does his daily work. Watch him when his work is done. See where he goes. Note the companions he seeks and the things he does when he may do as he pleases. And then you can tell his true character.”
Are you an Eagle?
As he continued on, he made this comparison:
“Let’s take the eagle for example. This bird works as hard and as efficiently as any other animal or bird in doing its daily work. It provides for itself and its young by the sweat of its brow so to speak. But when its daily work is over and the eagle has time of its own to do just as it pleases, note how it spends its time. Its recreational moments. It flies in the highest realms of heaven, spreads its wings, and bathes in the upper air, for it loves the pure clean atmosphere and the lofty heights.”
“On the other hand, let us consider the hog. This animal grunts and grubs and provides for its young just as well as the eagle, but when its working hours are over and it has some recreational moments, observe where it goes and what it does. The hog will seek out the muddiest hole in the pasture and roll and soak itself in the filth because this is what it loves.”
People can be either eagles or hogs in their leisure time.
That seemed a little harsh, and if you’re like me, you might be saying, “What leisure time?” Our lives are so hectic and chaotic. Heck, Moms can’t even buy a minute in the bathroom without a little one wandering in, needing her help.
I don’t believe the Lord is asking us very many times for large, time-consuming gestures. He merely wants minutes of our time every day to help another on their way. And once we have a willingness in our heart to serve, the Lord puts opportunities right in our path.
In The Book of Mormon in Mosiah 2:17, Ammon’s grandfather, King Benjamin, taught a profound truth that motivates us today. It’s only 36 words, but it powerfully instructs that if we want to learn wisdom, we will spend our leisure time in service.
“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.”
Ammon and King Lamoni
In his youth, a person named Ammon and his friends were so off track that they spent their leisure time seeking to destroy the church and lead astray the people of the Lord. We all know of his miraculous conversion as told in The Book of Mormon. The seed of his grandfather’s 36 words started to grow in Ammon’s heart.
And these brothers who had wallowed like hogs in their youth, wanted to soar like eagles. He and his three brothers felt this inspiration to go up to the land of the Lamanites. WHY? Scripture says they had undertaken to preach the word of God to a wild and hardened and ferocious people. People who had taken to murdering the Nephites.
The Lamanites’ hearts were set upon riches and gold and silver. And they sought to obtain these things by murdering and plundering so that they didn’t have to labor for them with their own hands. Why would Ammon and his brothers want to spend their precious time in something that was likely going to be a waste of time and that might result in their death? Mosiah 28:3-4 tells us the reason:
“THEY COULD NOT BEAR THAT ANY HUMAN SOUL SHOULD PERISH; YEA EVEN THE VERY THOUGHTS THAT ANY SOUL SHOULD ENDURE ENDLESS TORMENT DID CAUSE THEM TO QUAKE AND TREMBLE. AND THUS DID THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD WORK UPON THEM, FOR THEY WERE THE VERY VILEST OF SINNERS. AND THE LORD SAW FIT IN HIS INFINITE MERCY TO SPARE THEM.”
As Ammon entered into the land of Ishmael, they took him and bound him and brought him to the King. The King would decide to slay him, or cast him into prison, or cast him out of his land.
Scripture says that the King asked Ammon rather sarcastically: Do you want to dwell in the land among my people?
And Ammon said, “Yay, I wish to dwell among this people for a time and perhaps until the day I die. I will be thy servant.” So, Ammon was sent out to shepherd among the other Laminate servants, who most likely didn’t treat him kindly.
Three days later the flocks got scattered by some wild men that were there, and Ammon saw the fear of the other Laminate shepherds, who he considered in his heart to be his brethren. When that catastrophic event happened, and the Laminate shepherds feared they would be killed because of it, Ammon’s heart swelled inside of him, and he saw that this would be his chance to be a servant to his brothers. Ammon didn’t see them as Laminates, or enemies, or adversaries, he felt like they were his brothers.
This opened up another opportunity for Ammon to talk to the Lamanite King again. As one reformed sinner talked to another, it pricked the heart of that Lamanite King about his own sins and his own habits, and he asked in his heart how could he be reconciled with God and have those sins and murders taken away. In this story Ammon and King Lamoni grew to understand one another and then they became friends. In the end, they were willing to die for one another.
I love the courage of these sons of Mosiah, to be servants and examples of peace that’s offered through Jesus Christ no matter how vile their sins had been.
So how do we serve Him? It’s in the wisdom of the grandfather, “WHEN YOU ARE IN THE SERVICE OF YOUR FELLOW BEINGS, THEN YOU ARE SERVING GOD.” I also love the courage of King Lamoni and his father and his brother Anti Nephi Lehi, and how they gave up the mud so that they could soar. Lamoni’s father gives us that beautiful passage in the scriptures, “OH GOD, I WILL GIVE AWAY ALL MY SINS TO KNOW THEE.”
Mary and Jackie
Now I’d like to give you a more modern story. A story that happened in my life. But this story isn’t about me, it’s about a most unlikely servant who I met.
Many years ago, I cried out to God to save me. The next thing I remember, I was in a treatment facility. As you can imagine there is a diverse population there, doctors, lawyers, stay at home moms, cooks, authors, mechanics, and even the homeless. They ranged in age from 18 to 75. But one thing we all had in common was an illness of the mind and body. A devastating illness that kills with a frighteningly low percentage of recovery.
There I met a woman named Mary. Mary was a tough girl from the streets. She had many facial piercings, tattoos everywhere and almost every sentence she said had an f-bomb in it. She was addicted to meth and heroin and had been homeless for years. She was definitely a hard case. Mary was the one who taught me what dumpster diving was, because as she said, “I’m a professional at it!”
Whenever a new person was brought into this facility, the staff would team them up in a room with someone already there. One day a woman was brought in so sick she could barely stand. Her skin was a vivid yellow and the whites of her eyes were literally green. Her liver was definitely failing. I have no idea why she was brought to a treatment facility and not a hospital, but most likely she no longer had anyone who really cared about her. Her name was Jackie.
Mary was asked if she would take Jackie on as a roommate. I listened as the staff explained to Mary that she might have to help her get around because she was so sick. Mary responded quickly, “SURE!” She gladly accepted, and I was shocked. At first, Mary would help Jackie walk to classes, but Jackie was getting so weak that she could hardly make it. Mary went to the staff and said Jackie needed a wheelchair. There wasn’t one there, but Mary wouldn’t take no for an answer. She finally got a wheelchair for Jackie.
Jackie was getting sicker by the day. She didn’t have the strength to make it to the cafeteria, so Mary would get her food for her, take it to her room, and make sure she ate what she could. Mary would wheel Jackie everywhere. To classes, to watch patients play volleyball, to AA meetings. Not only did she take her places and feed her, but she was helping her bathe and getting her in and out of bed. She was cleaning up after her accidents just like a nurse.
From this tough-looking, homeless addict, who was very sick herself, came the most endearing love for a stranger that I had ever seen. One day an ambulance arrived, and it took Jackie away to the hospital. Mary came to me and said, I know that you go to chapel every morning, would you help me say a prayer for Jackie. So, I took her into the chapel, we knelt down, held hands, and prayed for Jackie’s healing or for her peaceful passing. Jackie died within 24 hours.
At this facility, if you remain there for the full term, you are able to participate in a graduation ceremony of sorts. They called it “Cupping Out”. About a week or so before graduation you were given a white coffee cup and were allowed to paint whatever meaningful words or pictures you wanted on it. It would then be hung in the gathering hall on hooks. After one year of sobriety, you could return and pick up your cup and keep it if you wanted to. All down the very long side walls hung many cups. But above those cups were rows and rows of cups with black ribbons tied on the handles. These were the cups of patients who, after leaving, went back to their addictions and died.
It is a very humbling and scary thing to see when you are a patient there. Mary came to me in tears and said she wanted to paint a cup to hang for Jackie because Jackie was sober when she died, and she deserved a cup hanging without a black ribbon. With permission from staff, Mary painted her a beautiful cup with sunshine and rainbows and flowers on it and the words “our angel in heaven” “peaceful and free at last.” The residents gathered in the hall and we had a beautiful cup-hanging ceremony on our own with music from patients who had brought guitars with them and a short memorial. Mary promised she would stay clean so she could return in one year to claim Jackie’s cup.
Ammon and Mary were both using as a foundation what King Benjamin taught. To serve others is to serve God. Or as Jesus himself said, As I have loved you, love one another. There are many organizations and people in the world, like our church, who do enormous good with their limited resources and their Benjamin-like desire to serve their fellow beings and God.
You Are the Gift
From my personal experiences I have found that if you want to be involved in humanitarian service that accomplishes the most lasting good, there’s a simple secret. And if there’s just one thing you remember from my talk today, this is it!
YOU ARE THE GIFT. YOU YOURSELF ARE THE GIFT.
It’s not the clothing, the school desks or drilled wells, IT’S YOU!!!!
What would it look like if each of us were our own well-stocked humanitarian organization, but instead of giving out tangible goods in foreign locations we had the richness of dispensing healing, and friendship, and respect, and peaceful dialogue, and sincere interest, and protective listening of children, and birthday remembrances, and talking to a stranger? What if that was what your personal humanitarian organization did?
This kind of humanitarian work can be done by anybody and it can be done at any time. And you don’t need warehouses or fundraising or transportation, and you can be perfectly responsive to any need that comes to you wherever you are. If we change our perspective so that caring for the poor and needy is less about giving stuff away and more about filling the hunger for human contact, and about hearing meaningful conversations, and about creating rich and positive relationships, then the Lord can send us someplace. Every single one of us can do this on our own. You don’t need a fund, but it’s going to take some commitment.
We live in a world that’s coming apart. It’s being pulled apart so that the unity of community, and respect for other people’s beliefs, and tolerances of differences, and the protection of the minority voice, is being shredded. It’s destructive to all of us when we feel like everyone outside of our narrow little clan isn’t worth our time, or is an enemy to vilify. As those negative forces in society rise up, then we have to be able to respond with an answering strong sentiment of love and service.
The sons of Mosiah, and the Lamanite people of King Lamoni, and Mary, show us that we all fail. We all make a mess of things occasionally. We all struggle with different sins. We’re all down in the mire, but through the grace of Jesus Christ we can repent and we can keep trying to be better, to be more like Him. In trying to be like Him, we can also make alliances with others who are also trying for good in ways that may be very different from ours.
The questions that I want to leave you with today are these.
How are you going to help people who are poor in spirit?
And can you stitch a relationship as well as you can stitch a quilt?
What enemy are you going to start viewing as a brother?
And do you want to live your life as a hog or an eagle?
If you feel like you’re stuck in a hole and you can’t flap your wings like an eagle because of all the mud that’s in them, then take heart. Take the sons of Mosiah to heart. Take the people of Lamoni as your example. Embrace a sick stranger like Mary did. The Lord has a work for you to do and it’s specific to you and your abilities, and nobody will be the ambassador that you will be. If you are just willing, Jesus will lift you out of the mire and set you on your way. Repent and he will forgive. And remember that in the same way as the Savior, you yourself are one of the best gifts that you can give to other people in need. The Lord says FOR THIS CAUSE, I HAVE SENT YOU.