Help Someone Today

By President Thomas S. Monson

From “What Have I Done for Someone Today?” Ensign, Nov. 2009, 84–87.

We are the Lord’s hands. He is depending on us.

I am confident it is the intention of each member of the Church to serve and to help those in need. At baptism we covenanted to “bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light” [Mosiah 18:8]. How many times has your heart been touched as you have witnessed the need of another? How often have you intended to be the one to help? And yet how often has day-to-day living interfered and you’ve left it for others to help, feeling that “oh, surely someone will take care of that need.”

We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we’re doing, we may find that … too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more important causes. …

… We are surrounded by those in need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our kindness—be they family members, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us. …

… May the words of a familiar hymn penetrate our very souls … :

Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.
Has anyone’s burden been lighter today
Because I was willing to share?
Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there? 

[“Have I Done Any Good?” Hymns, no. 223.]

… May we ask ourselves the question … : “What have I done for someone today?” My counsel to members worldwide would be to find someone who is having a hard time or is ill or lonely, and do something for him or her today.