When my 4 year old granddaughter Chanelle’s bedtime rolls around, my son often lies down by her for a while until she falls asleep. Occasionally Chanelle will turn to her Dad and say to him “Dad, hug up to me”. I believe it’s her way of saying; I need you to be closer to me so that I feel safe, included and loved.
This summer I purchased a car. I researched different types of cars and made a list of the vehicles I might want to buy. I didn’t want to buy new because of the cost. I wanted a car that would fit 7 people so I could more easily haul my grandkids. I wanted heated seats and 4 wheel drive. One of the big factors was fuel economy.
Let me invite you today to compare your every day life with an automobiles fuel economy.
I hope that you are getting fantastic gas mileage in your life when it comes to reading your scriptures, saying your prayers, holding FHE, and fulfilling your Church assignments. I hope you have found a steady pace to include these things in your life and your path seems clear and straight.
Today however, I want us to focus on our in-town driving gas mileage. I want to encourage you today to get the worst gas mileage you possibly can. I want you to slow down, speed up, slam on the brakes, make U turns, drive backwards and circle the block.
I would like to invite you to take a minute during your well planned out good gas mileage day to slow down long enough to think about your neighbors, the sisters you visit teach, those who are home bound or ill. I want you to take your life off cruise control, slow down and fervently ask your Father in Heaven who might need your help that day. Slow down and listen to the inspiration that comes. Who could you call that day to just say hello? Who in our ward might be silently praying for someone to “hug up to them”?
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Then speed up and follow the promptings, don’t wait or put it off, the Spirit will tell you what to do. Sometimes the prompting to act comes at a convenient time, most of the time it does not. Those are the times when we have to slam on our brakes and redirect our efforts so that we don’t miss the opportunity to serve.
Sometimes in our conversations with each other, words are spoken that may have been perceived as unkind or mean spirited; the Spirit will tell us to make a U turn or drive backwards and go back and correct the wrong. The Spirit will help us repair damaged friendships and remind us that we are all daughters of our Heavenly Father and we all need love and acceptance, not alienation and judgment.
There are times when you will find that the situation you become aware of will need more support than just a friendly phone call or quick visit. That’s the time to call President Swenson and let her know about the needs of your neighbors and friends. She will then communicate with the Bishop who then through interviews and prayers and inspiration will ask the members of the ward, to circle the block for a time to make sure that our friends and neighbors are receiving the help they need.
Sometimes as members of the ward, we are only aware of a small part of the overall picture because of confidentiality, or people’s requests to protect their privacy. Most matters are dealt with by the Bishop behind closed doors as the Lord directs him. The rest of us are not privy to the help and actions being put into place by a humble servant of the Lord. We must rely on our faith knowing that our Bishop has been called by the Lord to be a judge and shepherd. He has been given the keys and power of discernment and the right to revelation and inspiration for the guidance of his flock. As the Lord Himself said “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (D&C 1:38)
I am so grateful to live in such an amazing ward of compassionate and loving sisters. I know the Lord is pleased with your service and kindness shown to each other every day. I leave you with the words of Pres. Julie Beck from our regional conference when she said “You are doing better than you think you are” and at the same time “We are not doing as well as we could.”
I pray that we will all continue to have the desire to give and receive the blessings of service so that we may all feel comfortable to say to our neighbor and friend. “Hug up to Me”.
-Kim Olsen
