Forget yourself and go to work

Snow fell yesterday. I have a comfortable chair that reclines next to our bedroom window so I can look outside while I work, read, sleep, or watch television (F.Y.I., The Price is Right is pretty good these days). As I sat in my chair I heard the scrapping of snow on our driveway and looked out to see a friend, who I have not seen in months, out shoveling our snow. I called him this morning and I learned he was out of work. And yet what did he choose to do yesterday instead of sorrow in his jobless pity? He got up, put on a coat, grabbed his shovel, and served another.This friend is one example of many who have selflessly given of their time and talents to bless the lives of another even though their own circumstances are dire. Albert Einstein wrote, “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” And Gandhi declared, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

I’m grateful to the Baron Music Group whose gathered many of my colleagues and friends for a benefit concert in behalf of our family called "Living for Eden." Our friends Kurt Bestor, Peter Breinholt, Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband, Colors, and Sam Payne are all incredible artists and musicians who normally get paid to do these acts of kindness and so we are truly humbled. Several of them spent last week in Bulgaria performing for some orphanages and yet they come home to do even more for others. I can tell you that if these guys were selling cars they’d probably make a fortune. Yet, they choose to uplift and inspire through the power of music.

In my own situation, and through the years, if I’ve learned anything about life it is that in order to have true and lasting happiness (which is “joy”) you can’t wallow in your own suffering or poverty but use it to an advantage in empowering yourself to reach out to those with much greater need. “Forget yourself and go to work,” said Gordon B. Hinckley. And from Neal A. Maxwell, "God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability.”