Little things...

I ran across this quote today...

"Each one of us can make a contribution. Too frequently we think we have to do spectacular things. Yet if we remember that the sea is actually made up of drops of water and each drop counts, each one of us can do our little bit where we are. Those little bits can come together and almost overwhelm the world. Each one of us can be an oasis of peace." - Desmond Tutu

I love the idea that we can all make a contribution whether it is within our families, our communities, our church, our work environment or just for ourselves. I learned from a dear friend this past weekend that we can all make a difference and create abundance in our lives while doing the normal everyday things we always do --just by thinking bigger.

A little over a year ago we heard from this same friend about a young man in our ward that was struggling. He was failing at school, didn't have a lot of friends and his life at home was not going well either, there was no regular homework schedule or dinner as a family. My friend decided to find a way to help. After discussing with many friends and our Bishop, she decided to have this young man come to 4 families homes for dinner and receive help with homework Monday through Thursday. She thought, if this young man had a regular environment of sitting down for dinner with another family and working on homework every night it would help him improve his grades and see how other families enjoy dinner together.

When we first moved into the ward Brad and I were Garett's Sunday school teachers. We just loved him immediately and he reminded me so much of my little brother Lance. He also reminded Brad of when he was younger and the struggles he faced as a youth. So when Emily told us about her plan, we jumped at the chance to help Garett and he started coming to our home every Thursday night. We would eat dinner together, discuss his day, family life, etc... then help him with his homework. We learned a great deal from Garett and have grown to love him even more. He has so much potential and by seeing that other people cared about him, he was able to do better in school, enjoy being with his family more, and gain some valuable friendships as well. Our ward split about 4 months ago and the new ward found a family to replace us on Thursday nights. We still keep in touch with him and Brad takes him fishing, which they both love!

It was such a blessing for us to take part in this. We found that by just adding another person to our regular routine of dinner, it was not as overwhelming. (Now helping with homework was a struggle at first... it has been a LONG time since either Brad or I were in school but we learned together!) There are many things we can all do as a part of our regular routines to help someone else. I am grateful we were available to help as long as we could.