From Mother Teresa

A great example of service, love and selflessness, Mother Teresa went above and beyond her entire life.  If you haven't read anything by her or about her, you should.  When you talk about heros with your children, she is a good one.  Not all of us can go to the extremes that she did, but we can emulate many of her actions and attributes.  I especially loved that early on she served the population of India that everyone else wanted to pretend didn't exist.  She is one of my "heroes", one of the people that I look up to, someone whom I will teach my children about. 

So for your Sunday inspiration, here are a few of my favorite quotes from Mother Teresa (I can't actually verify the accuracy of any of these, but they are attributed to her, so I'll go with that):

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.

The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.

A Poor, Wayfaring Man of Grief

A good reminder of whom we serve.  These words have been put to music, but I sometimes think we can better grasp the meaning if we read it and picture it in our minds.

 

A poor, wayfaring Man of grief
Hath often crossed me on my way,
Who sued so humbly for relief
That I could never answer nay.
I had not pow’r to ask his name,
Whereto he went, or whence he came;
Yet there was something in his eye
That won my love; I knew not why.

Once, when my scanty meal was spread,
He entered; not a word he spake,
Just perishing for want of bread.
I gave him all; he blessed it, brake,
And ate, but gave me part again.
Mine was an angel’s portion then,
For while I fed with eager haste,
The crust was manna to my taste.

I spied him where a fountain burst
Clear from the rock; his strength was gone.
The heedless water mocked his thirst;
He heard it, saw it hurrying on.
I ran and raised the suff’rer up;
Thrice from the stream he drained my cup,
Dipped and returned it running o’er;
I drank and never thirsted more.

’Twas night; the floods were out; it blew
A winter hurricane aloof.
I heard his voice abroad and flew
To bid him welcome to my roof.
I warmed and clothed and cheered my guest
And laid him on my couch to rest,
Then made the earth my bed and seemed
In Eden’s garden while I dreamed.

Stript, wounded, beaten nigh to death,
I found him by the highway side.
I roused his pulse, brought back his breath,
Revived his spirit, and supplied
Wine, oil, refreshment—he was healed.
I had myself a wound concealed,
But from that hour forgot the smart,
And peace bound up my broken heart.

In pris’n I saw him next, condemned
To meet a traitor’s doom at morn.
The tide of lying tongues I stemmed,
And honored him ’mid shame and scorn.
My friendship’s utmost zeal to try,
He asked if I for him would die.
The flesh was weak; my blood ran chill,
But my free spirit cried, “I will!”

Then in a moment to my view
The stranger started from disguise.
The tokens in his hands I knew;
The Savior stood before mine eyes.
He spake, and my poor name he named,
“Of me thou hast not been ashamed.
These deeds shall thy memorial be;
Fear not, thou didst them unto me.”

Text: James Montgomery, 1771–1854
Hymns, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, no. 29

Help Me Grow - Utah

Just wanted to point all my faithful followers to the guest post I did recently on the Help Me Grow blog.  It gives a quick overview of why we started doing our Summer of Service, our favorite projects from 2012 and some ideas for helping your family to get started serving.  Go check it out. And feel free to leave a comment, I would love to hear from those I know!

Help Me Grow is a program of United Way designed to support parents by providing information and connecting them with helpful community resources.  You can call their hotline with questions by dialing 2-1-1 or you can find tons of useful tips, ideas and resources on their blog, helpmegrowutah.blogspot.com (where you will also find the afore mentioned guest post!).  They talk about everything from potty-training to fighting childhood obesity to ideas for summer camp.  Many of their articles are written by experts in the field, so you know that they are accurate and full of real facts - not just someone's opinion. 

So check them out.  Use their search tool - you will be surprised how much information is on there!  And maybe even become a follower, they consistently have pertinent and useful articles.  If you are a parent, it will be well worth your time!