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life thoughts

Secondary Service

A man I’ve never met feels more support today at his wife’s funeral because I came to work today. As I realized this morning that that would be the case today it got me thinking about what I call secondary service – that is, service which makes possible a more direct or primary act of service. In my case today my service of staying at work and taking over the on-call duties allowed all my coworkers to support the man who retired from this team before I was hired on. If I were unwilling or unable to do that then one of the team members would have been required to skip the funeral in order to perform on-call duties during that time.

I don’t mention this to pat myself on the back, but rather to recognize how ordinary actions that we don’t even think of as significant can be very significant to others. Sometimes the person being served doesn’t even know of the service being rendered. It reminds me of something that Spencer W. Kimball taught years ago that I have heard repeated in recent General Conference addresses:

God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other. (Spencer W. Kimball, “The Abundant Life,” Ensign, July 1978, 4)