Being Prepared to Serve

Some time ago we were having a discussion in Relief Society and someone mentioned that is is easier to serve others when you are prepared to serve.

What I took from this comment was this: Imagine you find that a friend needs some service (lets use a meal as an example) you want to take her a meal but you are totally out of groceries because it is the end of the pay period and there were some unexpected and pricey things that happened this week and you really should wait until Friday to go shopping, also it is a very busy day for you, you have time to make a meal but not really time to go to the market.  You have some essentials in your pantry but are missing key ingredients for a meal.

What can you do?  Will you sigh and give up and say it is the thought that counts?  Will you run to the grocery store to collect the ingredients while you are concerned about money and have even less time to prepare the meal?  Now you have less time and more stress.

If you were prepared to serve the scenario could go something like this:  You walk to the freezer and pull out a frozen entree that you put aside last week when you made a double batch of dinner.  You had planned to use it on a day when you were too tired to think about dinner but because you are prepared to serve you are always ready to use those freezer meals if you are called upon to bring a meal to someone in a pinch.  You put the meal in the oven and mix up a quick side and dessert. Deliver it to your friend, have a short visit with her and you are home just in time.

Being prepared to serve isn't always about food.  It is about being prepared spiritually, emotionally and physically for yourself and your family so that when opportunities for service present themselves you aren't worried about your needs and can focus on the needs of others.

 I don't have much of a freezer, I have an old fridge of questionable age (all I know is that they don't make appliances that color any  longer and they don't decorate the glass shelves with stalks of wheat anymore) but I do have room for a quart of homemade chicken noodle soup and a bag of enchilada filling in the corners of the freezer.

You could also have a box prepared with pre-measured ingredients for a meal so that it doesn't take much time for you or the recipient to put together.

Even you and I can be prepared to serve.