The worth of a soul; the worth of service

I've been thinking a lot lately about the worth of a soul, service, and the love of God. I have decided that the best way to share how I've been feeling is by sharing a letter that I wrote to my mission president while I was on my mission...

Monday, June 18, 2012

President B,

Sister R and I were talking about our missions this week while we were tracting in the good ol' Fairfield heat, and I told her how the mission has made me even more grateful and stunned by The Atonement. I told her an analogy for how I feel about my mission, and I want to share it with you too.

You know when there is one of those stellar hard-working perfect mothers that somehow seems to juggle all the things of life plus 3 young children? And then one Saturday, she leaves the house for a couple of hours to run some errands and leaves the oldest child in charge. So the oldest child comes up with an idea and tells the other two, "hey lets clean the house and make mom some cookies while she is gone so she'll come home and be so happy and know how much we love her." The other two are all for the plan, they are so excited because they have felt this deep love for their mother but never knew how they could possibly serve her in a way that would express it. So they go around the house trying to do the things that they have seen their mother do. They try to clean the floors like they've seen her clean them and stir the cookie dough just the way she does.

By the time their mother comes home, the children are exhausted, but thrilled, at the opportunity they had to spend a little bit of time being like mom. Mom comes through the door and sees her three sweaty, sticky children who are covered in flour and holding a plat of burnt cookies. It seems that all the furniture and things are in the wrong place, and with big grins on their faces, all three of them run up to her and yell, "welcome home!!!!" and wrap their arms around her, telling her they love her. She takes a moment and looks around her house--with everything in the wrong spot and tastes the cookie that has way too much flour and gazes into the eyes of her eager children and just weeps. Because it doesn't matter if the cookies are burnt or if the windows have smudges of windex all over them, because her children are looking up into her eyes full of love--having worked just for her. Her heart is full of gratitude to them just for trying.

That is how I feel about my mission. I feel like every night I have that moment with Heavenly Father. I get down on my knees and I look up at Him and say, "Well, Dad, I tried really hard to do the things that you do today. And I know the cookies don't taste very good, and I tried really hard to sweep the corners but somehow I didn't do it just right and there is still dust over there. But I love you so much, and I tried so hard. And so I hope you like it. I did all this just for you." And without fail, His response is always the same as that wonderful mother. I feel like He sits there on the floor with me and weeps. And He says, "these cookies are the best cookies I ever tasted" and "the corners look perfect" and the best one: "thank you so much for working all day. I love you." And somehow, even though I'm just as simple and small as those grimy faced kids, He makes me feel like what I did meant the world to Him. And I just glow at the idea that I could make my dear Heavenly Father happy and proud of His daughter.

Just as with those kids and their mother, I can look back at earlier times in my mission and see how the Savior has gone through after me and cleaned up the messes and mistakes I've made. I can see how somehow He knows how to make even my burnt cookies taste good. It is an incredible and miraculous thing to behold. His atonement is real, and His love for me is something I can't begin to comprehend, but something I can feel in a very real way every day.

Love, Hermana A.

This experience isn't unique. It isn't just missionaries that have important errands to do for The Lord. I know that everything that we do with the purpose of strengthening, uplifting, and serving others is The Lord's work, and it is important to Him. The Lord will never tell you that you are not enough. 

Whatever way it is that you are serving God or His children at this point in your life--I promise that it matters to Him.

I know that when you get down on your knees to talk to Him about how you are doing, He will come and spend time with you and tell you what you've done for Him is just the best thing that anybody has ever done for Him. He will thank you and love you.

There are no unimportant children to Him--so there is no unimportant service.