Ye Have Done it Unto Me

A few years back when we had a super deep snowfall, our snowblower broke down. We went to the office to shovel, then came home to find snow in the driveway above my knees. We drove in with the 4wd truck and immediately got stuck. So we got the shovels and started digging.

Pretty soon, here came our next-door neighbor with his snowblower running. He handed it over to us, and we gratefully accepted. While we were still out shoveling and snowblowing, he brought brownies his wife had made. After a full day of shoveling, those brownies tasted like the best food ever.

In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Jesus teaches us two things. First, if we help someone else, we are helping Him. Jesus’s disciples asked, “When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?” Jesus answered, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:38, 40).

Second, those who qualify to be with Him forever will be those who help others. He calls it helping “the least of these.” The smallest assistance, the neediest person, the most inconspicuous act of kindness.

Can our service in our neighborhoods and families really be significant enough to place us “on the right hand” of Jesus?

“You are most powerful where you live,” says Sharon Eubank, Director of Humanitarian Services and Latter-day Saint Charities for 15 years. She travels the world, organizing billions of dollars of aid. She shares a principle of service she learned in Sri Lanka several years ago.

She writes, “In the aftermath of the 2004 catastrophic Southeast Asia tsunami, I went to Sri Lanka with a project to help fishermen and seamstresses get new work tools so they could go back to providing for their families. Every community we entered was filled with dank debris and people still deep in shock five months after the tragedy…. People soon came up to me and plucked at my sleeve or held my hand and said the only English words they knew: “I lost my baby. I lost my husband. Help me. Please, please help me.” I was at a loss. I didn’t have any food to share. I couldn’t speak their language to explain. I was in the country to try to help, but how could I tell them that fishermen were getting nets and boats and seamstresses were getting machines and cloth? Nine hundred houses were being built just over the rise from where we were, but what was that to them?

“Shanthe [a local man who was accompanying me] went over to our vehicle and took out a soccer ball. Soon he was kicking it around with a mob of kids. They began to scuffle and laugh with him in the dirt. While he played with the ball, Shanthe casually asked one woman how her bread-making was turning out. She brought some bread for him to try. Another woman called to him that they couldn’t find washing powder. He said he would try to find some for them.

Standing there watching the scene, I recognized something I had never understood before. Shanthe was more powerful than I was in this setting for very ordinary reasons. This was his home. He came consistently. He spoke the language. He understood the cultural dynamics. He could respond at a very personal, human level.”

“A mother’s influence is very narrow but very deep.” Our cousin Monte Brough was a worldwide General Authority for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 30 years. He traveled the world in this important position. When my sister-in-law died in a tragic accident many years ago at age 32, she was a mother of four very young boys. At her funeral, Monte taught, “As a General Authority of the Church, my influence is very broad, but very shallow. A mother’s influence is very narrow, but very deep.” Don’t discount the value of your service just because it is narrowly focused on your family.

I was watching a video of The Good Samaritan, and contemplated if I have ever even been a “Good Samaritan.” As I was wondering, I had a clear impression from God that my work as a grandmother is the work of a Good Samaritan. God saw my Grandmother-work as significant.

“Lift where you stand,” teaches Elder Dieter Uchtdorf, an Apostle in The LDS Church. He was once with a group of men who were moving a grand piano. Such a large task! But they gathered around the piano, and then were instructed to “lift where you stand.” We can lift, or help others, wherever we are.

In September, the MSB Planning department sponsored a cleanup project in a Wasilla neighborhood. The Borough manager brought in dumpsters, flat-bed trucks and volunteers to help our neighbors clear their yards of trash and old equipment. I volunteered one of those days. I realized that the residents we were helping were elderly or unhealthy. They were so grateful for the help, and they were out in their yards doing what they could to assist. As I spoke to the manager who organized this project, I realized that this was a project born of understanding and compassion. He saw that while the residents were out of compliance, they also didn’t have either the health or the resources to take care of their trash and debris. Instead of fining them, he organized an event to help them be successful. I felt gratitude to be part of a community who lifts and helps when they can.

We can help the people around us in small ways with great love, as Sharon Eubank teaches. And just maybe…our hearts will come to be more compassionate. And then maybe…we can be found at the right hand of Jesus at the last day.

Beth Wright is a mother, grandmother, wife, musician, writer, hiker, gardener and disciple of Jesus Christ. She loves being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.