service Archive

  • Starfish Beyond Mountains

    Posted on August 19, 2012 | 4 Comments
    Everyone knows the parable of the starfish. Some of us even have a framed print of the parable, maybe a shadow box with an actual dried starfish, hanging in the guest bathroom. It’s a simple tale, even a little worn with familiarity, but the moral […]

    Full Story

  • Mutual Improvement Associations: Tools, Tents, and Radiant Hope

    Posted on July 8, 2012 | 4 Comments
    Today’s powerful and inspiring  Mutual Improvement Associations comes from our guest blogger, Mark. Let’s begin in typical LDS-sacrament-meeting-talk fashion and define the meaning of some words. Mutual Improvement Association. What does that even mean? It sounds awkward and clunky and a bit old-fashioned. But when […]

    Full Story

  • A gift of bread or stones?

    Posted on February 23, 2012 | 5 Comments
    If a gift harms someone, is it really a gift? Can we tell the difference between bread and rocks, or do we need to read some parables again?

    Full Story

  • Knock and it shall be opened….

    Posted on January 13, 2012 | 7 Comments
    I've always been intellectually supportive of the mission of Visiting Teaching. Actually making myself do it, or enjoy being on the receiving end- or 'teachee,' as it were- hasn't come as naturally.

    Full Story

  • Prodigal

    Posted on December 8, 2011 | 5 Comments
    Last week, at a familiar intersection, the sign a man held up said, "It doesn't take much to be kind."

    Full Story

  • Going to the Dogs

    Posted on November 5, 2011 | 8 Comments
    The following piece is a guest submission by Claudia Ruptier ; Ron liked dogs.   He just didn’t want one-even after he’d been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment with likely progression to dementia. I was thinking of a service dog to help care for my […]

    Full Story

  • Moral Issues

    Posted on October 13, 2011 | 2 Comments
    Today on our local NPR affiliate, a local Stake Presidency member was interviewed about the roll-out of the "I'm a Mormon" PR campaign in our metro area.

    Full Story

  • Favorites: Business Lunch

    Posted on October 6, 2011 | No Comments
    I asked a group with an empty chair if I could sit with them. A young man's smile put me at ease and I settled in for lunch. I wasn't sure what to say, but I needn't have worried.

    Full Story

  • Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren . . .

    Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren . . .

    Posted on September 16, 2011 | 3 Comments
    Every once in a while, I meet someone who is just plain old good.   Without guile.   My friend Rebecca is one of those people.   And so are her kids. Rebecca and her family have a great tradition of family service that she […]

    Full Story

  • “The 2011 OB Drink Give-away”

    Posted on August 18, 2011 | 19 Comments
    I’ve spent almost all my 38 years in Texas or Louisiana, so I’ve weathered some bad summers. The summer of 2011, however, has re-defined “bad summer.” In our area, the last time we had this many 100+ days was in 1980-something. As of August 16, […]

    Full Story

  • We Are Pioneers

    Posted on July 28, 2011 | 4 Comments
    As I was telling my Kindergartner earlier this month that we're all pioneers in some way. Whenever we stand up for what we believe in or do something because we know inside it's a good thing to do, we are pioneers.

    Full Story

  • Operation Stop Arm

    Posted on July 15, 2011 | 4 Comments
    My neighbor Sheri and I watched motorists pass our children's school bus for years. We took video, called the police, reported tag numbers, complained to the public school department of transportation, pleaded with the PTA for attention to this matter. We were met with "there is nothing we can do" around every single corner.

    Full Story

  • Joining the Jesus Freaks

    Posted on June 30, 2011 | 1 Comment
    Do we believe, deep down, that the poor are that way because God wants them to be?

    Full Story

  • Proxy Work

    Posted on June 23, 2011 | 5 Comments
    As a lone-parent, five-child family on welfare, we were hardly the ideal Mormon family.

    Full Story

  • The Parable of the Potato Soup

    Posted on June 9, 2011 | 15 Comments
    Once upon a time, a woman in our ward (=church congregation) had a baby. In typical fashion, the women at church mobilized and quickly sent around a list for people to sign up to take a meal over to her family. Kennedy was very excited […]

    Full Story

  • Angels with Power Tools

    Posted on May 12, 2011 | 9 Comments
    When you hear the words “Compassionate Service” what comes to mind?   This is like one of those word association games- just go with your gut feeling.   Macaroni and cheese?   Sign up sheets?   Relief Society Board Meeting? A calling you hated (or […]

    Full Story

  • Twelfth Lunch

    Posted on April 28, 2011 | 3 Comments
    November 11th, 2010 I gave away the last lunch (somehow, the story of the eleventh lunch was never recorded and has been lost to the mists of time).   It had taken me 8 months to distribute them all. I was on the phone chatting […]

    Full Story

  • Kids and Calamities

    Posted on March 31, 2011 | 12 Comments
    I watched the Twin Towers fall on TV, my oldest child safely ensconced in her kindergarten class.   My toddler was playing with blocks nearby…. building towers and knocking them down.   “Mommy, why does your face look like this?”   she asked, mimicking my […]

    Full Story

  • Talents: Addition and Multiplication

    Posted on March 10, 2011 | 9 Comments
    This is a guest post from a favorite reader and commenter, Corktree. It may sound simplistic (or just serving of my purpose), but I’ve always read the parable of the talents to mean actual talents.   It’s just easy to see how one might be […]

    Full Story

  • Celebrating the Man As Well As His Cause

    Posted on March 3, 2011 | 13 Comments
    A guest post from a reader, Debra. Names matter. They do. My life experience has taught me this. Names are important as they are references — signs – that direct us to meaning, and often to a particular point in time – in history. In […]

    Full Story

  • Bearing a Burden

    Posted on February 10, 2011 | 6 Comments
    It sounds corny, but by carrying around her belongings (two pairs of sturdy shoes, a box of office supplies, a blanket, and a black garbage bag full of what I assume was clothing) I felt like I was literally bearing her burden, whoever she was.

    Full Story

  • Number 7

    Posted on January 20, 2011 | 8 Comments
    I caught a glimpse of him opening the bag and then dropping it rather unceremoniously on the ground. He then picked up the sign and again and turned slowly back to the line of cars.

    Full Story

  • What The Church is Doing Wrong

    Posted on January 13, 2011 | 16 Comments
    Something's better than nothing.... or is it?

    Full Story

  • Memories

    Posted on December 16, 2010 | 4 Comments
    A grateful resident presented me with a chocolate turkey, wrapped in beautiful multicolored foil. Then she looked around her room, reached over to her bedside table, and handed my brother a mushy brown banana.

    Full Story

  • Lunch 5- Out of the Comfort Zone

    Posted on December 2, 2010 | 8 Comments
    We (and our children) have had to learn to be gracious guests at both cockroach infested decrepit apartments and mansions where we are served by The Help.

    Full Story

  • Giving Thanks

    Posted on November 26, 2010 | 1 Comment
    'The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose.' -Mahatma Ghandi

    Full Story

  • Duped?

    Posted on November 4, 2010 | 14 Comments
    I was pleased to have given away my fourth lunch, but in retelling the story, I began having doubts. Was this person scamming people?

    Full Story

  • Spreading Good Cheer

    Posted on October 28, 2010 | 4 Comments
    I called out- "I have a lunch!" With out missing a beat, he replied, "Not anymore you don't!"

    Full Story

  • The First Lunch

    Posted on October 7, 2010 | 14 Comments
    A middle-aged Hispanic man is walking past the car where I pull up to the light. He sits down on the curb two cars behind us. He has a sign, but I don't read it.

    Full Story