– by Brenda
I have Rhuematoid Arthritis. On a typical day, I wake up and the joints in my feet hurt enough to cause me to have a mild limp until mid day. I will have to favor one hand, wrist or ankle. Being a stay at home mom means I just have to plow through the pain. But some things are particularly hard. Seatbelts, opening jars, and lifting my baby can cause me to wince or worse. On a particularly hard day I came home from doing errands to find this on my doorstep.
The note reads,
CHICKEN ZUCCHINI CASSEROLE
Eat tonight after baking @ 350 for 45 min or freeze for another time.
Just because.
At first I thought:
“Oh I’m doing fine, they didn’t need to do that for me.”
But after I picking up the casserole and taking a peek at the freshly sliced zucchini inside, I wanted the chance to say to my anonymous friend, “Thank you for thinking of me, I have been having some tough days. You made me feel loved.”
A few scriptures came to mind as I walked that hunk of love wrapped in tin foil to the kitchen.
The first is found in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah 2:17
“And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”
In the Holy Bible I remembered John 13:35
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
And finally, Matthew 6:1-4
“Take heed that ye do not your alms before me, to be seen of them; otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what the right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”
Sister Kathleen H. Hughes spoke about this kind of service in her Liahona article What Greater Service Can We Know: Christlike Friends.
Not only did my anonymous friend serve me physically by feeding my family, but she also taught me how to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ. For both of these acts of service I’d like to say, “Thank you, you made me feel loved.”
Anonymous service is SO fun for the one giving and the one receiving! Great post!
Sometimes within womens’ circles casseroles are made light of, but I’ve never heard of a person refusing one either. They might seem like a trivial or unneccesary thing in this fast food world but nothing can replace the loving thoughts behind them.
I love stories like this. Makes me want to do something simple for someone else.
The other thing this makes me think of is a conversation I often had with a friend who was a Relief Society president (stewardship over the women in our congregation) who loved to cook. It was often with food that she could express her love and concern.
I served with her on a compassionate service committee. We would help with food for funerals. We would help organize food for women who had just had babies, or surgery, or other struggles. We often talked about how it’s really not about the food, but about expressing love and support.
Ah, this is also reminding me of a time when someone randomly made a meal for me…she didn’t know, but it was on a day when I had seen my dying grandma, had been gone all day, and to not have to make dinner that day was such a blessing.
Anyway, thanks again for sharing this.