Service

LDS Quotes on Service

“I used to say, when someone was going through something hard, “Is there anything I can do?” And I meant it, I meant it kindly. But the problem is … that kind of shifts the burden to the person you’re offering the help to to figure out what they need. And when I was on the other side of that question, I didn’t know how to answer it. Is there anything you can do? Well, can you make Father’s Day go away so I don’t have to live through it every year? No. Rather than offer to do something, it’s often better to do anything. Just do something specific. My wonderful friends … tragically lost a son and they spent many months in a hospital before that. And one of his friends texted him and said, “What do you not want on a burger?” Not, “Do you want dinner?” Another friend texted and said, “I’m in the lobby of your hospital for an hour for a hug whether you come down or not.” Just show up.”

Sheryl Sandberg  |  "Just Show Up," NPR Article

Topics: ,

“During the Great Depression, Harold B. Lee, serving then as a stake president, was asked by the Brethren to find an answer to the oppressive poverty, sorrow, and hunger that were so widespread across the world at that time. He struggled to find a solution and took the matter to the Lord and asked, “What kind of an organization will we have … to do this?”…And “it was as though the Lord had said [to him]: ‘Look, son. You don’t need any other organization. I have given you the greatest organization there is on the face of the earth. Nothing is greater than the priesthood organization. All in the world you need to do is to put the priesthood to work. That’s all.’”

Harold B. Lee  |  transcript of welfare agricultural meeting, Oct. 3, 1970, 20.

Topics: , , , ,

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“You don’t need an invitation before you start moving in the direction of your righteous goals. You don’t need to wait for permission to become the person you were designed to be. You don’t need to wait to be invited to serve in the Church.

“We can sometimes waste years of our lives waiting to be chosen (see D&C 121:34–36). But that is a false premise. You are already chosen!”

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf  |  The Best Time to Plant a Tree

Topics: , ,

“If you come upon a person who is drowning, would you ask if they need help—or would it be better to just jump in and save them from the deepening waters? The offer, while well meaning and often given, ‘Let me know if I can help’ is really no help at all.”

Elder Ronald A. Rasband

Topics: ,

“Reaching out to rescue one another under ANY condition is an eternal measure of love.”

Elder Ronald A. Rasband

Topics: ,

“We go to the temple to make covenants, but we go home to keep the covenants that we have made. The home is the testing ground. The home is the place where we learn to be more Christlike. The home is the place where we learn to overcome selfishness and give ourselves in service to others.”

J. Ballard Washburn  |  Ensign, May 1995, p. 12

Topics: , , ,

“Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others…By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.”

Gordon B. Hinckley  |  “Whosoever Will Save His Life”

Topics: , , ,

“Education is the difference between wishing you could help other people and being able to help them.”

Russell M. Nelson

Topics: , ,

“But how are we to be made happy? There is one course—love the Giver more than the gift.”

Brigham Young  |  JD 9:31, Brigham Young, The Gifts of God, Etc.

Topics: , , , , ,

“The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.”

Gordon B. Hinckley  |  Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes

Topics: , ,