Becoming Extraordinary

My Mother, Snow White, by Susan Hayward

Last Christmas I was in Tennessee, away from family and friends, serving a mission for my church. We were up every morning at 6:30, worked all day, then in bed by 10:30pm. Every day. On Christmas Day we got to call home and talk to our families, but that was it. But what could have potentially been a very lonely time for us missionaries was brightened by a kind deed: One of the missionaries' grandmothers had spent the last few months knitting scarves for all 130+ of us missionaries. That weekend we each got a new scarf, surely made with so much love and care.

Nowadays I occasionally volunteer at my local YWCA, which, among other things, provides temporary emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence. Yesterday one of the staff wheeled in a big barrel of gift bags: mothers day gifts for the residents donated by some local woman. The staff member was sporting a huge smile, and that joy and excitement soon spread throughout the room. What an extraordinary act of service this anonymous woman had performed.

I used to view these acts of service in awe, and I still do, but now with a greater understanding of how to serve. I sincerely believe that everyone has the potential to serve in extraordinary ways. The only catch is that there is no cookie cutter for "extraordinary service." That is something that we have to discover within ourselves, and when we do finally see our individual potentials, we cannot sit idly by while others work for this greater good. We must go and serve selflessly in whatever way we know how to.

A few years ago, my dear mother (a pre-school teacher by trade) showed up to a Halloween party dressed as Snow White. The children were dazzled by their teacher, a Disney Princess in the flesh. The next year Snow White showed up again, with the same reaction. Then Snow White started showing up elsewhere: a neighborhood tea party, a school fundraiser, etc. The reaction was always the same: complete awe, joy, and excitement. My Mother is Snow White, and that is an act of extraordinary service.

I am not a knitting-extraordinaire, nor am I wealthy enough to financially support non-profit organizations. I certainly do not have that special sweet heart (or petite dress size) of my mother. But I am blessed with the creative ability to write and share music. Over the last couple months I have learned how to use that talent to serve others in ways that I hadn't thought of before. I never expect a return for any of the songs I create, but I find myself rewarded tenfold. It brings so much joy to me, yet it is something that comes so easy to me.

Serving in extraordinary ways does not have to be hard. I am positive that you, dear reader, have a hidden ability just waiting to come out and bless the people around you. My challenge to you is to ponder that ability, find it, refine it, and use it.

How have you been blessed by the service of others? How has serving others blessed you?

alice and lucy

(Source)

I think until recently I have spent most of my life very selfishly. So concerned with being able to do what I wanted, finding out what I needed out of life, wanting to be happy for me. College was no exception. In fact, my selfishness was fed by living on my own, always working and studying. I did good things with my time but I did it mainly for the benefit of myself.

In a class I took, we were discussing the women’s suffrage movement. We read and talked and in the end, watched a film. It was heart-wrenching and inspiring. I learned how they suffered, sacrificed, and endured; how many years, generations fought for the right to have a say in the world. At the end, my professor posed a question:

What in your life is worth all of this sacrifice?

What would you give everything for?

The images of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns and the other women who had fought so hard for something they believed in with their whole hearts lingered in my mind. I could not stop thinking of those questions that my professor had asked. What meant enough to me that I would go to prison, refusing to eat, and then being force fed just to be heard? To stand up for what I believed and felt?

I knew that I cared a great deal about women and women’s rights but would I give everything for that? Of course my family and good friends were on that list of who/what I would sacrifice for but was that all? Could that really be all I truly cared for?

These questions did not leave me for a long time. I spent a great deal of time rereading and rewatching, studying and thinking about Alice and Lucy and what they did. It was then that I truly realized the things that mattered most to me. My family, friends, my faith and my relationship to God. Eventually I would put all my personal goals and aspirations on hold for a year and a half, leave my family, friends, my style, music, and hobbies to go to a different country, learn a new language, and share the things that I hold most dear with people who didn’t always treat me kindly.

It was the first true sacrifice I had ever made. It was the first time I had truly been unselfish. And it was the first time I felt I could become a person who could actually have a positive impact on the world around me.

Those women did great deeds in pushing the suffrage movement along. But their contribution goes much deeper. They help us become good, contributing citizens. They help us find what really matters to us. They help shape us.

In honor of Women's History Month, tell us: who are the women who have helped shape you?

(Left-Lucy Burns and Right-Alice Paul)