This week’s talk is “Opportunities to Do Good” by President Henry B. Eyring. My family is going to study it tomorrow in Family Home Evening and try to come up with ideas to seek out more service. I think we can come up with some ways to make sacrifices and bless others’ lives more than we have been doing.
What do you like about this talk? What messages and goals stand out to you. Please share comments in the conversation below. If this is your first time to General Conference Book Club, go here to learn more.
Diapers and Divinity 
This talk stood out to me because of his continual emphasis on serving others, *together in our families*. I realized how often times, when I perform the labors of my church calling, I may not give my family, more specifically my children, the opportunity to help or contribute in some way in the effort to relieve someone’s burden. I was thinking specifically of his story about the children who delivered dinner to his doorstep. Acts of service don’t have to be overwhelming or hard. It can be everyday things we are already doing, I just need to be more aware of the “teaching moments” and make the most of them with my children. I loved this talk it gave me a lot to think about and a lot of motivation.
That part stuck out to me too. I like how he said that not only were they teaching their children, but by doing this they were teaching their future grandchildren the pleasure of serving too.
As I am listening to this talk, I am thinking about the South East Day of Service that I had the opportunity to participate in yesterday–for the third year. Of the joy I felt watching my children distribute bags to collect food, and then my sweet daughter’s voice as she went around and knocked on doors, asking people “to please give something for the poor?” Service is truly such a HUGE blessing for our families, and we are the ones that the Lord has to do his work.
This week, our stake is sending it’s men down to Alabama, just like we did after Katrina. They are in need of hygiene kits, so that’s what we women are putting together before they go. It feels so good to be needed.
All of those things, running through my mind, which especially made these jump out at me:
“They turned their feelings of sympathy into a decision to act on their covenants.”
and
“I love this work, and it is work!”
I am so grateful for the opportunities that the gospel gives us…me… to serve. 🙂
I haven’t read the talk yet but just barely wrote a post about service. If you want to join in my little service fun please go check it out. 😉
There were 2 lines I really liked:
“He has invited and commanded us to participate in His work . . .”
Do I follow when He invites or wait for the command?
“The Lord regularly sends wake-up calls to all of us. Sometimes it may be a sudden feeling of sympathy for someone in need.”
Our prophet is such a wonderful example of hearing the prompting and acting immediately — I hope this talk will help me to do better at responding to the wake-up calls.
They just announced our stake’s day of service at church yesterday. I’m excited that the Church is doing this. I hope this will become an annual tradition!
Just love that President Eyring! Thank you for choosing this talk. He’s right; sometimes the RS president gets the ‘inspiration’ first. ;o)
~Shari
Just watched this for FHE! Feel inspired to go and find a way to serve 🙂
Stephanie, I didn’t review this talk yet, so it isn’t terribly fresh in my mind to comment on it… but I just want to tell you how great it is that you are doing this. I don’t participate every week, but love it when I do, and miss it when I don’t; thanks for all that you do. This right here IS an example of taling an opportunity to do good, as well as being anxiously ingaged in a good cause, of your own accord. Kutos to you! ;D
Corine 😀
corinesmiles.blogspot.com
I liked how he quoted, I think Harold B. Lee, in saying, “you cannot give yourself poor in this work.” Sometimes it seems hard to give more money or to do more work, but it always turns around in your favor. It is amazing how you are blessed more when blessing others.
We just did Mormon Helping Hands day here in CA and they announced that kids under 11 would go to a “daycare” — I thought it was silly so I brought mine. They worked, and they worked HARD. I was so proud of them. A lot of people just left their kids home. I thought that was sad. It was nice to be there as a family working and helping our community. After his talk I felt extra kudos. 🙂
What stood out to me were the 4 principles of service:
1. everyone is happier when self-reliant and and giving surplus to the poor
2. service unites
3. include family
4. seek out the poor
Thanks again for hosting this! I love it! 🙂
I was going to list the four principles as well, but won’t since Michelle just did. (That’s what I get for waiting a week to get around to this!) Some of my favorite memories are the ones where I tried to include my children in my church callings or Relief Society service projects. My daughter would color the visual aids for Primary singing time. We tied a quilt for FHE to add to the pile the RS sisters made. It was a family activity to rake leaves at the park on our stake’s Day of Service last month. (In Florida the leaves fall in March, not September!) We go to ward choir practice as a family (even when they were little). Service is important and families are important; put them together and amazing things happen! And the more good you do in your family, the easier it gets to do it in your community. I loved President Eyring’s talk.
I am determined to stick to this so I am doing a little catch up work. 🙂 I just got my hard copy of the ensign in the mail today so it will be a lot easier for me to get to it. Whoo-Hoo, I am excited!
The main thing I got out of this talk is that we need to turn our feelings of sympathy to action.
And secondly that we need to serve with our families, especially with our children.
I am ready to serve! 🙂
My heart stung with selfishness when I read this statement by President Eyring:
“Our Heavenly Father hears the prayers of His children across the earth pleading for food to eat, for clothes to cover their bodies, and for the dignity that would come from being able to provide for themselves. Those pleas have reached Him since He placed men and women on the earth.”
I had to ask myself: Why do I complain about the things I do not have when, with all the tragedy and suffering that is literally a daily occurence,I should be sharing with others the things I do?
Why is it that I think I need more when there are so many with much, much less?
How can I more fully keep my covenants (God’s invitations + God’s commandments) in responding to the many opportunities there are to do good?
My answer lies in “Waking Up and Doing Something More!”
I know this might seem a little off the wall but it gave me comfort that he talked about getting help to be self reliant and then it giving him excess and then him using that excess to help others.
I consigned myself a little while ago to the fact that I was not going to be able to give in that way and so I look for opportunities to serve elsewhere like cleaning the chapel or trying to be a good friend or having the missionaries for dinner. We live from week to week and my husband (a non-member) is happy to give but only if he has excess (which we haven’t had since we had kids). So it gave me comfort anyway. I guess I am still on the “learn self-reliance” part of that step.
To note though, I don’t know how many times my mere “crust” has been turned into a loaf through all this…feeding extra people on so little etc. In the past my husband would try to veto having the missionaries for dinner because he couldn’t see how we could feed them but he has learnt to trust me. We seem to have the best meals and desserts when the missionaries are over!!
My dad used to tell us “Never deny others the blessings they can receive from giving (or serving).” His point was that when someone offers to help you, or to give you something, you shouldn’t deny them the blessings they will receive from helping you, even if you think you won’t need the help. I come from a very self-sufficient family, and one of the things we have a hard time with is accepting help. This was my father’s way of teaching us that the giver often receives more blessings than the recipient of the service.
I wrote more about the talk here. Sorry I am SOO incredibly late. I have been slacking in the GCBC lately, but I am reading the talks. I just might be reading them a little out of order, and WAY late. I am going to be better after Oct General Conference.
Thank you so much for this opportunity to study the talks with others. I love reading the other comments, as well.