a few more thoughts on doing good.

A lot of times I feel guilty when reading talks like this one. I feel like I need to be doing more-volunteering, service projects, visiting, etc. With my husband in his first semester of graduate school (gone from 9am to 11pm 5 days/week), a 4-year-old and 9 month old twins I'm not at that point. I don't have that extra time. But it is so easy to forget that as far as service, small things matter so much.
The thought from Sister Camilla Kimball, "Never suppress a generous thought" kept running through my head while reading this talk. Looking back on the acts of service that have meant so much to me, the small things really stand out.
For example:
-I will never ever forget my first sunday in my last ward, I was sitting towards the back in Relief Society as everyone was just coming in. One of the sisters turned around from several rows up and wanted me to sit by her. Small-to her.
-After bringing my twins home from the hospital, the RS scheduled to bring dinners every other day for a couple of weeks (every other day because sisters always bring enough for more than one meal... :) Any way, for at least the first week sisters who weren't assigned were showing up..."I made too much..." "I was just at the store and picked up an extra pizza for you..." Small. To them.
-A note slipped to me that said "I was just thinking of you" Small-to whoever it was.
There are so many little things that we can do that matter so much.

My other train of thought with this talk was along the lines of serving my children. This quote really stood out to me as far as that is concerned:
"We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we’re doing, we may find that we have immersed ourselves in the “thick of thin things.” In other words, too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more important causes."
I'm there. A lot of the time I feel like I am so busy just trying to make it through the day. I really appreciated eea saying:
"It is hard to learn to live 'in the moment' but it is beautiful there. One of my favorite parenting memories is laying on the floor of our space in Springville staring at the ceiling fan, because that is what my baby wanted to do and she wanted me to do it with her. School, dishes, laundry... it just had to wait. I don't regret those few minutes, not ever."
Right after bringing the babies home from the hospital I would give my husband the option of having the house clean or having a good meal. I think we will be going back to that :)