Category Archives: Service

Substance

01 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by in Divinity, Example, General, Service

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Substance_P

Often, when we read the Book of Mormon or the scriptures in general, we may pass over certain words because they are common, or because of the surrounding context in which they are used. Let’s take the word substance for example; as it is used in several scriptures we understand substance to be goods, flocks, herds, food, money, or other temporal and welfare type of goods.  This seems to be the case in Mosiah chapter 4 (verses 16,17,19, and 22) where substance is used repeatedly, which all seem to relate to sharing your ‘substance’ with the poor and the needy.

One of my very favorite scriptures, if not my absolute favorite, is Jacob 2:17 which reads “think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.” At first glance, this context seems to fit the paragraph above.  Jacob is denouncing the people’s love of riches, and indicating that the antidote to pride is the sharing of one’s substance.  There are other several other scriptures that support this idea, but I think we can learn quite a bit more if we think of this word substance in it’s modern day definition.

Substance:

  1. That of which a thing consists
  2. The actual matter of a thing
  3. The real physical matter of which a person or thing consists and which has a tangible, solid presence.

Certainly you could argue that substance can mean material goods and flocks, but I would like us to think about why the word substance is used in Jacob 2:17 (and other verses), and how sharing our substance is much more than just sharing our temporal goods.  I like to think of it as “the actual matter of a thing”.  The charge to “be free with your substance” tells me that sharing what I am actually made of – the matter of a thing, or that of which a thing consists – is what is expected of me (and not just to give of my material blessings).  I love that challenge.  In part because it seems harder, in part because it helps us understand that what we are and what we are made of – the sum total of all our experience and trials and strengths and weaknesses is incredibly important and that is what we need to share it with everyone.  We need to be free with our substance.

Another reason I think this, is because of the way substance is used in another verse – Alma 27:24.  At this point in the Book of Mormon, the people of Ammon (the Anti-Nephi-Lehies) are traveling with Ammon to see if the people of Zarahemla will let them live with the Nephites (since the Lamanites keep destroying them).  Of course, the Nephites say yes because they are good – and in verse 24, it indicates the condition for which the Nephites will give up the land of Jershon and provide their army for their protection: “we will guard them from their enemies without our armies, on condition that they will give us a portion of their substance to assist us that we may maintain our armies.”

So far, this reference can still be thrown into the temporal goods category, since it makes 100% sense that the Nephite army required these newcomers to provide food and supplies in return for their possession of the land of Jershon.  But, there is always more…

There happens to be a footnote on the word ‘portion’ in verse 24 which takes us to Alma 43:13 where it says that “the people of Ammon did give unto the Nephites a large portion of their substance to support their armies”.  I’ve read these verses, and all of the verses related to sharing substance several times, but only recently I’ve noticed the connection between Jacob 2:17 and these that I’ve listed.  The ‘large portion’ of substance that the people of Ammon shared probably included temporal goods (food, supplies, etc.) but it was WAY more than that.

Let’s just do a quick review of exactly what it was – the actual matter of a thing –  that the people of Ammon shared with the Nephites through the end of Alma.

This group of new converts comes into town, having made some new covenants, and they were “distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men”, and they were a “beloved people”.  A people who were “compelled to behold their brethren (the Nephites) wade through their afflictions, in their dangerous circumstances”.  This people was renowned among all the Nephites for their convictions, and their commitments to covenants that they had made.  Do you think that substance – the actual matter of their being – was shared?  I certainly think so.  The sharing of their substance, was way more than just providing the Nephite army with granola bars and water jugs.  It was a spiritual substance that changed the course of Nephite history, and culminated with 2,060 of their stripling youth volunteering themselves to go right into the heart of battle, leaving home, and placing themselves right in the middle of the Nephite army, an act which caused them to “rejoice exceedingly” and ultimately, an act of love that cannot be measured.  Remember that “greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).  Even though the stripling warriors didn’t lay down their lives, they were willing to, and that is some serious substance.

I think that this people – the people of Ammon – were the epitome of sharing their substance, which is why I love the condition placed upon them in the very beginning when they come to town.  The Nephites themselves probably didn’t even realize how amazing that condition was when they required it in the first place.  I think that this condition to give the Nephites ‘a portion of their substance’ was paid in full many times over.  When we think of the blessings that the Nephites received and the testimonies that were shared and strengthened from the people of Ammon – I am amazed at the simple phrases in the Book of Mormon that are so jam-packed with awesomeness.  So, the challenge for all of us today, is the same as it was for the people of Ammon and the people in Jacob’s time; let us ‘be familiar with all, and free with our substance”.

Mowing the lawn in flip-flops

14 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by in Patience, Service, Silence, Teaching, Trials

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mowing stripes

A couple of Saturdays ago, I asked Luke (my 10-year-old son) to mow the lawn.  Based on his body language, and his verbal protests this burden that I had laid upon his shoulders was equivalent to asking him to build the Egyptian pyramids (not on MineCraft).  So, in an effort to console him; I explained that this process of mowing the lawn could in fact be very beneficial to him.  I explained that it could help build his muscles (he didn’t care), I explained that it could strengthen his understanding of the growth and life cycle process of grass (he didn’t care), I explained that it makes our home look nice and I even explained that by him doing that chore it would allow me to continue to perform other duties in the yard that also needed to be done (he didn’t care).  This left me with the opportunity of teaching him that in order for him to play Xbox that day or ever again that he would need to mow the lawn (and suddenly he cared a lot) and agreed to perform the task.

After this discussion, I started to get things ready for him to perform this monumental task.  I went to the shed and got the lawnmower.  I put gas in it.  I primed it.  Then I brought it to the edge of the driveway where the lawn starts.  I also trimmed the entire exterior of the lawn, so that when the lawn was mowed, it would look uniform in its mowed state.  While I was thus preparing – so was he.  Luke located an electronic device, secured his headphones, selected and configured his epic playlist, and appeared next to me pumped up and ready to go – wearing his flip-flops….  After I made him change into real shoes and I had started the lawnmower for him1 he went to work.

About 20 minutes later he came to me as a sweaty mess and informed me that he was done.  I asked if he had done the front and the side – all I heard in return was a huff and a grumble (and maybe a moan).  Off he went again (until he came back 30 seconds later and asked me to start the lawnmower for him again).  Another 15 minutes passed and he strolled confidently around the corner and proceeded to tell me that he was really done this time.  He had done it.  I thanked him and let him know that there were Gatorades in the fridge in the garage for times just like this when demanding physical feats are performed against all odds and electrolyte replenishment is needed.  He disappeared immediately.

Naturally, I stopped what I was doing to go inspect his Egyptian pyramid, and just shook my head because what I saw was pretty much a hot mess of sort-of mowed grass.  Sprinkled within the strips of mowed grass there were long lengths of not-mowed grass, and even a 4-foot strip of lawn that had been ignored completely.  The rows were uneven, scattered, and the mowed parts didn’t quite make it to the edge of the lawn where I had trimmed.  It looked like the lawn got a haircut from a blind man.

I was faced with two choices; go get him to finish the job, or clean up his mess.  I have chosen the first of these two options in several similar situations, just as many of you probably have.  After all, the layout of this story is pretty much exactly the same as when we ask any of our young children to clean their rooms, or when we ask their other (and sometimes older) siblings to help load or unload the dishwasher, sweep the floor, fold laundry, to pick up the house, to do their homework, or honestly to perform any task at all.  The fact of the matter is that they won’t do it as good as we do even when we tell them to “clean it like I would clean it”.  They just can’t.  At least not yet.

Luke had worked hard.  The sweat on his red face had proved it.  He felt like he gave it his all and I (his father) – knowing him and his personality as well as anyone – was fully aware of the effort he gave.  Even though the result was far from perfect, and far from what I would even consider satisfactory I was nevertheless happy enough with his effort to go over nearly the entire front lawn again and finish the job.  Next time around, and as he grows older, I will no doubt help him to see that although I am happy with his previous effort, I will identify a few areas of improvement and inform him of my updated expectations – and I may or may not still use the Xbox as leverage if needed.   Because even if he doesn’t care about building his own muscles -I do.  I know the result of continued hard work and can envision a time where I can just ask him to mow the lawn and have complete faith that it will happen – just like I would do it.

Our father in heaven asks us to mow the lawn.2  Sometimes that feels like He’s asking us to build the Egyptian pyramids, and as He’s explaining how it will help our muscles grow and provide us with context for the life cycle of grass, we mope around in a huff, murmur, and moan looking for our flip flops.  Then, while we are selecting our epic playlist hoping that our task will somehow escape us He is diligently “preparing the way for us that we may accomplish the thing which He commandeth us”.3

Then, after we finally make an effort, and when we’ve made a completely juvenile attempt at making the amazon jungle look like Wrigley Field and approach Him with sweat on our brows; He smiles at us, thanks us for our hard work, and hands us an ice cold Gatorade.  As we walk in the house to collapse on the couch from exhaustion He walks behind us and mows the lawn again to make sure that it was done correctly and that every piece of grass gets mowed.

As we grow older, and this process is repeated He will gently explain to us how mowing the lawn is helping us, and someday He hopes that we will come to learn not only how to mow the lawn just like He would, but why it is so important to mow the lawn at all.

Notes

1 Before you think that Luke is completely helpless, you should know that our lawnmower really is difficult to start, and is also fairly hard to operate in general.  It’s old and does not have the fancy ‘self-propelled’ feature that many other lawnmowers do.

2 This task of mowing the lawn could be replaced with any task referenced above (cleaning the house, washing the dishes, vacuuming, scrubbing the toilets, homework, etc.)

3 1 Ne. 3:7

Concerning the Snow

03 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by in Service, Weather

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This post is brought to you by the physical abuse that Casey and his family has endured at the hand of this ‘mild’ New England winter.  No one should ever have to spend 3 hours of his or her day off shoveling snow.  The plow and I now have a very healthy love/hate relationship.  Now I know why Dad was always complaining about the plow coming by and burying the mailbox…

For the last week I have not been able to get this thought out of my head: It is wicked cold outside, but the falling snow is so beautiful.  At times, this thought is replaced by another thought: Shoveling snow is not fun, but the fresh snow blanketing the streets is so beautiful.  These thoughts continue: (Insert negative aspect of snow and winter), but (insert positive aspect of snow and winter). After clearing the driveway of snow I look at the 6-foot tall drifts and huge piles of snow and think about how fun it would be to build a super elaborate snow subway system.

Another benefit of having 6 feet of snow in the last 2 weeks is the opportunity to serve others.  My neighbors have helped us shovel snow a number of times.  It is awesome to know that you are cared for – even through a simple gesture.  My home teaching companion and I were able to shovel the driveway of a man that we have been assigned to.  He has given us the run around at church for the last 3 weeks and has not allowed us into his home, yet.  But service has a way of softening hearts and I think that is our golden ticket.  Service is awesome*.  He can no longer deny that he is looked after.  He knows that there are people close that are willing to help should he need anything.  Plus, I don’t want him to have a heart attack in his driveway when I can have a heart attack in his driveway instead.

See…  Snow can be pretty great.  At least that’s what I tell myself – and I’m convinced.

We have recently been counseled to be an appraiser instead of an inspector, and to see the Gospel in everything around us.  Tikes, what awesome advice, thank you.  The snow, like the gospel, can be a hard thing, or it can be a source of wonder and inspiration.  It can be cold, harsh, and rigid, or it can be a source of joy.  It really depends on our attitude and effort.  What we put into it is what we get out of it.

This applies globally.  It could be the weather, or work, or those around us.  When we look for the good, we see it.  When we look for the bad, it becomes obvious.  The problem is, when we don’t look for the good, the adversary often brings the bad to us for free.  It may be subtle, but what better way to discourage or darken our day than to supply thoughts of a cold and dreary world, when in reality, it is filled with beauty and wonder – we just have to look for it.  How often have we read, “seek and ye shall find?”  Lets look for the good and smile when we see it.  It may help others do the same.

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*An additional thought on service (apart from Mosiah 2:17):

“Service is not something we endure on this earth so we can earn the right to live in the celestial kingdom.  Service is the very fiber of which an exalted life in the celestial kingdom is made.  Knowing that service is what gives our Father in Heaven fulfillment, and knowing that we want to be where He is and as He is, why must we be commanded to serve one another? “  — Marion G Romney