Ministering

I have been teaching the ministering lessons in Relief Society for the past several month.  This month, however, really hit home.  The Lord wants everyone to accept ministering.  It's really easy for me to give service...I love giving service...I look for ways that I can give service.  But, I have a really hard time accepting someone serving me, especially if I have to ask.  Being mom's caregiver has helped me realize that I need to ask for help...I need to let others serve her...I can't do this alone.
My favorite part of the lesson was about elephants.

In the wild, when a mother elephant is giving birth, all the other female elephants in the herd back around her in formation. They close ranks so the delivering mother cannot even be seen in the middle. They stomp and kick up dirt and soil to throw attackers off the scent and basically act like a pack of fierce bodyguards.

They surround the mother and incoming baby in protection, sending a clear signal to predators that if they want to attack their friend while she is vulnerable, they’ll have to get through forty tons of female aggression first.

When the baby elephant is delivered, the sister elephants do two things: they kick sand or dirt over the newborn to protect its fragile skin from the sun, and then they all start trumpeting, a female celebration of new life, of sisterhood, of something beautiful being born in a harsh, wild world despite enemies and attackers and predators and odds.

Isn't this us?  Isn't this life?  Sometimes were are on the outside of the circle, taking care of our friends, and other times, we are in the middle of the circle, being cared for.  I love what this lesson did to strengthen me and helped me grow.