Service Change

I gave a talk in the service member's group today where I teach the Gospel Doctrine Class. Boy did they all get an ear-full of my voice today! The first speaker left me almost 30 min to fill, but as it turned out that was just about what I needed for the talk I had prepared. I know what you’re thinking, but it wasn't boring, and only one person was asleep that I could see. My topic was service to God, self and others. Prior to this talk I’d never coupled service and change as principles working together, but the idea came from wikipedia strangely enough. When I searched for service on wiki the first page that came up was for service in terms of economics. This is an excerpt from it:

In economics and marketing, a service is the non-material equivalent of a good.. It is claimed to be a process that creates benefits by facilitating either a change in customers, a change in their physical possessions, or a change in their intangible assets.

By supplying some level of skill, ingenuity, and experience, providers of a service participate in an economy

Services can be described in terms of their main attributes.

• Lack of homogeneity - Services are typically modified for each client or each new situation (customized).
• Labor intensity - Services usually involve considerable human activity, rather than a precisely determined process. The human factor is often the key success factor in service industries.
• Buyer involvement - Most service provision requires a high degree of interaction between client and service provider.
• Client-Based Relationships - Is based on creating long-term business relationships.

The part that caught my eye (and my spirit) the most was this: It is claimed to be a process that creates benefits by facilitating change. I realized how true that is; that as we serve others we facilitate a change in them and in ourselves for the better. In studying for the talk I also thought of the war in Heaven in a different light. I realized that one of the fundamental differences between the plans of Heavenly Father and Lucifer was that Christ volunteered to SERVE in a capacity so far reaching that it would facilitate the change of ALL children of God, while Lucifer did not want to serve, but to enslave. I'm so grateful for the Service rendered by our Savior that facilitates our change.

This is one of the stories I shared. Its from a talk by President Faust.

Some years ago a priests quorum decided to gather food for the needy as a service project. Jim, one of the priests, was excited to participate and was determined to collect more food than anyone else. The time arrived when the priests met at the chapel. They all went out at the same time and returned at a specified time later in the evening. To everyone’s surprise, Jim’s cart was empty. He seemed rather sober, and some of the boys made fun of him. Seeing this and knowing that Jim had an interest in cars, the adviser said, “Come outside, Jim. I want you to look at my car. It’s giving me some trouble.”

When they got outside, the adviser asked Jim if he was upset. Jim said, “No, not really. But when I went out to collect the food, I really got a lot. My cart was full. As I was returning to the chapel, I stopped at the home of a nonmember woman who is divorced and lives within our ward boundaries. I knocked on the door and explained what we were doing, and she invited me in. She began to look for something to give me. She opened the refrigerator, and I could see there was hardly anything in it. The cupboards were bare. Finally, she found a small can of peaches.

“I could hardly believe it. There were all these little kids running around that needed to be fed, and she handed me this can of peaches. I took it and put it in my cart and went on up the street. I got about halfway up the block when I just felt warm all over and knew I needed to go back to that house. I gave her all the food.”

The adviser said, “Jim, don’t you ever forget the way you feel tonight, because that’s what it is all about.”