Acting in the Savior's Name (9/9/2009)

First of all, I would like to apologize for the lack of a thought recently. Apparently working with computers for a living does not exempt one from having issues with them. I am limping along again, however, and hopefully will be back to full force this week.

This week in Fast and Testimony meeting, one of the good brothers of our ward got up and shared his testimony about the importance of being a good home teacher. He recounted how when he moved into the ward, he had been assigned to a family, but there were always other things to do and home teaching did not happen as much as it should have. Years later, the father of the family to which he had been assigned confided to him that at the time he had been their home teacher, the son of the family was struggling, and he felt that the home teacher could have done a great deal of good to help his son.

I understand that there is a great deal of speculation in this scenario, but the lesson was well understood. We never know the influence we can have if we fail to do our part. It might seem silly to say "hello" to someone with whom we are not well acquainted, but a simple greeting may have a huge impact on the recipient of that greeting. The young mother might be able to prepare meals just fine, but who can say how much it would relieve her stress for one night if someone prepared a little extra in their meal and shared with her. Like the song says, "there are chances for work all around just now." I hope that we will take the time to look for them so that we can act in the Savior's name.