Often I have wondered why some people struggle from the moment they come into this life until the day that they die while others seem to breeze through life with few troubles and cares. How can this be fair?

Everybody is given a different lot in life. Often I have wondered why some people struggle from the moment they come into this life until the day that they die while others seem to breeze through life with few troubles and cares. How can this be fair? This question was ever present as I met babushky in Eastern Europe. There was always a sweet peace among these beautiful woman. They emulate Christlike attributes. They serve and lift others. Many of them lived through famine, war, occupation, oppression, revolution and economic collapse...multiple times. I found myself counting my blessings and wondering why my life compared to theirs what so much easier. How could lives lived at the same time in history be so different just because of the spot of ground in the planet they were born?

This morning while reading the scriptures, I read the following verses and had thought.

Jacob Chapter 5
21 And it came to pass that the servant said unto his master: How comest thou hither to plant this tree, or this branch of the tree? For behold, it was the poorest spot in all the land of thy vineyard.
22 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto him: Counsel me not; I knew that it was a poor spot of ground; wherefore, I said unto thee, I have nourished it this long time, and thou beholdest that it hath brought forth much fruit.
23 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto his servant: Look hither; behold I have planted another branch of the tree also; and thou knowest that this spot of ground was poorer than the first. But, behold the tree. I have nourished it this long time, and it hath brought forth much fruit; therefore, gather it, and lay it up against the season, that I may preserve it unto mine own self.

My thought. There are different spots of ground where the Lord has planted His vineyard-some better and some worse. I love that the the Lord knew this and so He spends time in the poor spots—“I have nourished it this long time.” I believe God is always near especially where the most help is needed.

I also believe that where much is given, much is required. It is our duty to be instruments in God’s hand to help and lift others. I am so grateful to have been born in a family with a loving father and mother. I feel so blessed to live in a country of freedoms and prosperity. I am blessed to have had the opportunity for excellent education and work opportunities. I hope to wear out my life serving and lifting others.

Kenneth Boyd Packer, Facebook Post, March 22, 2018

We Should Not Give or Provide What they Can and Should Do For Themselves

Even with the universally accepted desire to help the poor and needy, the Lord concurs in our goal but warns, “But it must needs be done in mine own way” (D&C 104:16). Otherwise, in our efforts to help, we may actually hurt them. The Lord has taught us the need to promote self-reliance. Even if we are able to help, we should not give or provide what they can and should do for themselves. Everywhere it is tried, the world learns the evils of the dole. Truly God knows best.

 APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - THE LORD’S WAY - ELDER STANLEY G. ELLIS

Too Hurried to Serve

Let me illustrate this with a story from the Church News:
“A group of religion instructors [were] taking a summer course on the life of the Savior and focusing particularly on the parables.
“When the final exam time came, … the students arrived at the classroom to find a note that the exam would be given in another building across campus. Moreover, the note said, it must be finished within the two-hour time period that was starting almost at that moment.
“The students hurried across campus. On the way they passed a little girl crying over a flat tire on her new bike. An old man hobbled painfully toward the library with a cane in one hand, spilling books from a stack he was trying to manage with the other. On a bench by the union building sat a shabbily dressed, bearded man [in obvious distress].
“Rushing into the other classroom, the students were met by the professor, who announced they had all flunked the final exam.
“The only true test of whether they understood the Savior’s life and teaching, he said, was how they treated people in need.
“Their weeks of study at the feet of a capable professor had taught them a great deal of what Christ had said and done.” 8 In their haste to finish the technicalities of the course, however, they failed to recognize the application represented by the three scenes that had been deliberately staged. They learned the letter but not the spirit. Their neglect of the little girl and the two men showed that the profound message of the course had not entered into their inward parts.

James E. Faust, “‘Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart’,” Ensign, May 1998, 17

Oh, The Church Will Take Care of That. I Pay My Fast Offering!

"We must take care of the poor. Said the Lord, 'The poor ye have with you always.' (See Mark 14:7; John 12:8.) There have always been poor and I guess there always will be poor until the Millennium. We must take care of them and we must have the facilities to do so. But we must be very careful not to overinstitutionalize that care. We must not shift the burden that we ought to carry in our own hearts of spreading kindness and love and help to others, to the institution, which at best, is impersonal.

"I do not want you to get any idea that I am saying we should not have the welfare program. We must have it. It is a part of the Lord's plan and the good it does is vast and incalculable. But I think there is a tendency among us to say, 'Oh, the Church will take care of that. I pay my fast offering. Let the Church take care of that.' We need as individuals, I think, to reach down and extend a helping hand without notice, without thanks, without expectation of anything in return, to give of that with which the Lord has so generously blessed us" (Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [1997], 459).