serve often, judge never, love always.

I remember when I was in school in seventh grade and one of my teachers was telling the class something about how he knew some homeless people in Salt Lake City. One of the kids asked about giving them money and our teacher said "oh no - you don't give them money." He said that you would be smarter to give money to organized charities.

Well… I totally see where he's coming from. He's not the only one who thinks this, and I see why people doubt that their money is going to the right person and will be used for the right purpose.

But you know what I think? It's my responsibility to help others. God didn't bless me with all that I have just so I could sit here and do nothing.

Shipping your money off to charities is awesome. It really is awesome if you are doing that. Many people are not able to and probably even more just choose not to. I'm sure your money is doing amazing things.

Maybe I'm just selfish. I like to see people's reactions! I like to walk away from serving an individual with that good feeling that I helped someone with something specific.

But still, I see nothing wrong with giving money to homeless people.

EVEN IF they aren't really homeless. EVEN IF they are just going to buy drugs. EVEN IF it just"encourages them."

SO WHAT?

Like I said before, it is my responsibility to do everything I can to help others and serve God's children. I don't care what they do with the money; that is their responsibility, and I guess they will be held accountable for their decision.



I'm tired of judging others, of distributing my acts of service like precious nuggets of gold that I can only spare so many of.

I don't have a hundred dollars to hand out to people. Goodness, I wish I did!
BUT there is work for me to do. There are lives for me to change, even if it is just through simple acts.

And I know I should be thinking of Every. Person. I. See. the way God sees them. If I can't, I should at least pretend that I can. If you tell yourself something over and over again, you start to believe it.
Think of how you would see people - see life! - if you always tried to think the things Jesus would.


Last week we had Evening of Excellence for the young women in our ward, which is where we kinda celebrate the things the girls have accomplished throughout the year. The room and setup were darling, and there was a cute black and white picture framed of every girl in the ward on display next to some objects each girl had chosen to showcase that represents her.
Anyways, it was darling and I was just sitting there thinking how cute it all looked and how cute the pictures were and how close I feel to all those girls when this incredible feeling came over me. For just a few moments, I feel like I was seeing those girls the way God does. It was like this overwhelming feeling of love and pride at all their talents washed over me. It only lasted a moment, and I don't know how I got so lucky or what I did to invite the Spirit into my heart so strongly at that moment, but I loved it.

It made me realize how much differently I would see the world if I just thought those things on my own all the time.

I know that when I let the Spirit into my heart, try my best to serve others ALWAYS in any way that I can, and remind myself to always see the good in others, my life will be exponentially happier and more fulfilling.

I love God and I feel so blessed right now. I know that He wants me to feed His sheep and help others return to Him. So this I'll do, because I want nothing more than to be His servant.

Have an awesome week guys, and commit right now to serve often, judge never, and love always.

-Haley