"Come to Know the Savior by Serving Others Daily"

This week's question by Family Search is: What goals are you actively working toward right now?

This sounded really similar to "What goals do you hope to achieve this year?", which I already wrote about in my 2017 resolutions post. So I thought I would write about some other things I'm working on that aren't part of my resolutions, but then in Sacrament meeting this past Sunday we were introduced to our ward goal for this year:

Come to know the Savior by serving others daily.

A talented sister in my ward designed and made magnets for us to stick on our fridge that have our ward goal on it and a quote from President Henry B. Eyring:

"The Savior called us to serve others so that we could strengthen our own faith as well as theirs. He knows that by serving Him we will come to know Him."

 The talks in Sacrament meeting were about our ward goal. One of the speakers likened this goal to the #LIGHTtheWORLD campaign during December. She said that she felt so stressed out at first trying to do the daily service suggestions, she thought, "Oh my gosh, this is just one more thing to do!" She told us that on December 1st, her son had to get five teeth pulled at the dentist and after his appointment she spent the entire day taking care of him. At the end of the day she realized she had not done any #LIGHTtheWORLD service, and she was so upset that it was day one and she was already failing. Then the thought came to her that she had been lighting the world by taking care of her son. Taking care of her son was service.

This story really touched me because as a SAHM I have no idea how I can serve someone every day; but I can serve my children and my husband every day. I already serve my children by helping them get dressed, getting them food, teaching them how to share, etc. I can increase my service to my children by not making them wait when they ask me to read to them or play with a toy with them. I already serve Gerson by preparing his lunch the night before work, splitting up the bills so none are forgotten (the money comes from the same place, but we physically take care of different bills so we know they always get paid), and helping him with anything that he asks. This year I want to increase my service to Gerson by getting up with him in the morning and helping him get ready for work.

I can also serve friends, neighbors, and strangers as the opportunity arises. One thing I want to do is talk kindly to strangers on social media, even if they aren't. I want to compliment people that I normally don't talk to as often.  I just want to increase kindness, and I believe that is a form of service.

In February my Relief Society's activity is a service auction. I am either going to offer up a homemade chicken alfredo dinner or bake cake called Butter Finger Ecstasy Cake.

In Primary, Benjamin was given a paper to ask the parents for help in noticing acts of service. It says:

"Please help me recognize ways that I have served someone so I can share about it in Primary!"

Benjamin is a really good helper. When I ask him to get me a clean diaper for Luna, or the wipes, or to open the fridge and get Luna her sippy cup, he does it very enthusiastically. Sometimes he helps without me asking. When he does those things I'm going to point it out to him, thank him, tell him that is service and it makes Heavenly Father and Jesus happy.

I'm really excited to work on our ward goal for this year. I'm especially excited to work on it with Benjamin.