Learning to LOVE Yourself through Serving Others

Service used to be my middle name. I lived to help others, it was on my mind ALL THE TIME. I would come home from school to go pick up trash in the neighboorhood park, or I would ever so sneakily take up my neighbors trash can for them, or I would clean the entire house and leave notes on the beds for my family to find. It is what gave me great joy.

Then life got a little more hectic as I started to deal with some personal hardships and trials and somehow I allowed my heart to become blinded of the needs of those around me. 

The other day I was listening to a talk by President Eyering when a few words he said suddenly pierced my heart. 

"Sorrow comes primarily from selfishness, which is the absence of love."
- President Eyring

 These simple words were a wake-up call, I had been feeling great sorrow in my life. Yes, so many incredible joyous blessings are happening around me but the mental and emotional battles I was facing inside made me feel as if I were drowning and somehow I allowed these weaknesses within me to shrivel up my heart as I become filled with much selfishness, causing much sorrow.

This winter season has been long, oh so very long. It's been a very dreary winter, but yesterday as I was in my car, I saw it. I saw the light. I saw the beauty of the snow. I saw the joy of the season; the winter season that Heavenly Father created with his intelligence of knowing what is best. I felt God's love overpour throughout my body and I felt peace and hope. It was there all along, but yesterday was the day it truly spoke to me.

It was a wake-up call to give love and serve those around me. It was a reminder that when we feel God's love, we can pass it on. But on the flipside when we serve and invite love into our hearts, God's love suddenly becomes more extremely acute even though it's been there all along.

Then this morning as I was searching for something I came across not one but two videos about service from two of my top 10 role models. It was an incredible wake-up call to me to DO SOMETHING! Yes, Heavenly Father needed to get my attention that service is love, it's forgetting you and going to work. 

Here's the videos:

If you want to love yourself a little deeper and you're looking for a remedy to have more joy, more confidence, and more kindness towards yourself....SERVICE is the answer! I will be finding ways to give service today. They may be small and simple things, but that's where the POWER lies. 

One scripture that I absolutely love is in 1 Peter 4:8 "And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins."

 Charity is the antidote to selfishness, because it CHANGES us. From the inside out it makes us want to sin no more. The mistakes we are making on a daily basis become almost non-excistent because our hearts change to become a little bit more like Christ. Yes, I have so much room to change and I am jumping up and down right now as I type this because Heavenly Father has wanted to remind me of what service is, He's wanted me to get up and do something for a long long time and how humbled I am by His gentle and peaceful reminder today.