Give Goodness

It’s a proven fact that when we make other people happy, we make ourselves happier.

When we hear that statement the tempter usually counters with thoughts of having to take a lot of time to do kind deeds or wrap up and give presents or write letters or notes or other "burdensome" things. (Burdensome is the way the tempter presents it!)

But you don’t need to go out of your way or do special things to make other people happy. There are many ways in normal every day interaction that we can spread goodness.

One thing we can do is to concentrate on how we react to the people we encounter every day and then make sure we share happiness and cheer. Do we smile at people? Do we share encouraging news and keep the bad to ourselves? Do we compliment people we are talking to? Are we sincerely interested in our associates and their families? Do we really listen to them? Do we respond to what they say in ways that indicated we really are interested?

Sharing goodness and happiness doesn’t have to be a burdensome, time consuming task. We can share goodness any time we want and in many different ways..

Prayer Power

I got one of those calls yesterday—a call from my mother asking me to pray for my niece who suddenly began having seizures. BBS (Before Brain Surgery) I would, as soon as I could, dutifully pray when a call like this came, and I would think about the person and the situation hoping for the best. But ABS (After Brain Surgery) when calls like this come, I drop everything immediately and pray with all my heart that all will be well and that the person will feel the prayers and love of others as much as I did.

The healing for me was a wonderful miracle. The love and the tangibility of other’s prayers was a delightful surprise. That feeling sustained me while I waited for the miracle. That feeling kept fear at bay. That feeling warmed and comforted me. And I know that feeling was part of the healing. Prayer works. It is real. We should all be praying for each other because life is meant to be a community affair. None of us will make it to the Celestial Kingdom without helping someone else get there, too. There are many ways we do that, but prayer is part of all of them.

Thanks again for all of your prayers when I needed them. I still can feel the strength they gave me. And pray for my niece, Jessica, who lovingly offered to cut her long, strawberry-blond hair to make a wig for me when Grizelda plagued me.