I can't stop thinking about this month's visiting teaching message.
If I were in
charge of choosing the Visiting Teaching Message for December, I would have
picked something about joy, or service, or the birth of the Savior. As I saw the title of the message this month
I started to tear up. By the end of the
message I was a blubbering mess. (And I
was thankful that I wasn’t responsible for choosing the message…oh how inspired
those sisters are!)
This month’s
message is about compassion. I always thought
of compassion as helping someone that couldn’t help themselves but, in the
scriptures, compassion means literally ‘to suffer with.’
The phrase, “mourn
with those that mourn” kept coming to my mind.
Christmas is
the happiest time of the year for us! We
have so much joy in our family and with little kids in our home Christmas magic
is overflowing!
However, for
so many, Christmas is extra hard. Some
are mourning the loss of a loved one, maybe a spouse, friend, or child. Some are mourning the family they don’t
have. Some may be struggling with
financial burdens. And so many other
trials that seem to be magnified during the holiday season.
I love Sister
Linda Reeves. She is one of my all-time
favorite heroes. In this month’s
message, she said,
“My husband and I knelt by the side of our
17-year-old daughter and pleaded for her life. The answer was no, but … we have
come to know … that … [the Savior] feels compassion for us in our sorrows.
“One
of my favorite stories from the Savior’s life is the story of Lazarus. The
scriptures tell us that ‘Jesus loved Martha, … her sister [Mary], and [their
brother] Lazarus.’” When Lazarus became ill, word was sent to Jesus, but when
He arrived Lazarus had already died. Mary ran to Jesus, fell down at His feet,
and wept. When Jesus saw Mary weeping, “he groaned in the spirit, and … wept”
“That
is our charge. We must feel and see for ourselves and then help all of Heavenly
Father’s children to feel and see and know that our Savior has taken upon
Himself not only all our sins but also our pains and our suffering and
afflictions so that He can know what we feel and how to comfort us.”
I am
thankful for leaders that rely on the spirit for inspiration and I am thankful
for a Savior that knows and loves me and each of His children.
In our family, we have had several experiences being on the recipient end of others' compassion. We are thankful for the kindness of others, their generosity and Christ-like examples. We are going to try extra hard to follow those examples and find ways to show compassion to other this Christmas season! I LOVE this video! My biggest prayer is that I can raise my boys to be like the boys in this video. I'm so glad I married a man that is like the dad in this video too. Hopefully my kids will just watch him and learn from his example.
We are on month three of "Who Can I Serve Today" Service Projects!
Here are our four new weekly projects:
#1- We made and delivered caramel apples #2- We wrote thank you notes to people who don't normally get them (teachers, bus driver, etc). #3- Took canned food to the food bank. #4- Made place-mats to donate to Meals on Wheels (I HIGHLY recommend this one...so fun and the people LOVED them!!)
We had so much fun doing the Alphabet Dates! I am honestly so sad it is over! This was such a fun way to plan unique dates that got us doing things we normally would do. I'm so glad that Darin was such a good sport--and his dates were always the most fun!
You really should go do them! It was a blast! Thanks Katie for introducing the idea to us!
