“Going the Extra Mile,” Friend, Jan. 2011, 20–21
Going the Extra Mile
Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain (3 Nephi 12:41).
Kim was excited about family home evening. Grandma and Grandpa were coming to stay for a visit, and they were going to share a special lesson.
Grandma and Grandpa arrived at Kim’s house on Monday afternoon. Kim, Cody, Kate, and even baby Connor could hardly wait for family home evening.
Grandma started the lesson with a question: “What does it mean to go the extra mile?”
Kim, Cody, and Kate thought and thought. They didn’t know.
Mom spoke up. “If someone asks you to go one mile with them, you would go two miles.”
“If the bishop asks us to help someone, we can do what he asks us to do and then see if there is something more that needs to be done,” Dad said.
“I get it!” Cody said. “If Mama asked me to clean my room, I could clean up the living room too. And go the extra mile!”
“Great examples,” Grandma said. “Do you have any more ideas?”
Kim said, “If Mama asks me to watch Connor while she fixes dinner, I could play with him instead of just watching him.”
“If Mama asks me to water the plants, I could put water in Toby’s dog dish too,” Kate said.
“If Daddy asks me to carry a bag of groceries, I could go back and carry another bag,” Cody said.
“I love your ideas!” Grandma said.
“Grandpa hasn’t said anything,” Kim said. “What could you do to go the extra mile, Grandpa?”
Grandpa thought for a few seconds. “If Grandma asks me to eat one cookie, I could eat two cookies,” he said.
Kim laughed. “Oh, Grandpa, you are so silly,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Grandpa asked. “Don’t you think it would be going the extra mile to eat two cookies instead of just one?”
Kim, Cody, and Kate laughed.
Grandma laughed too. Then she asked everyone to remember the lesson and go the extra mile whenever they could.
After Grandma and Grandpa’s visit was over, they went back to their own home. Grandma called Kim, Cody, and Kate every once in a while to see what they were doing to go the extra mile.
A few weeks later, President Gordon B. Hinckley asked everyone in the Church to read the Book of Mormon before the end of the year. Kim’s family started right away and read every night before saying their prayers and going to bed.
Grandma and Grandpa started to read the Book of Mormon at their house too. Grandpa got up early each morning, sat at the kitchen table, and read for a long time. He got so excited reading about the people in the Book of Mormon that he could hardly put the book down. He loved seeing how their lives were blessed when they followed the teachings of Jesus Christ. Grandpa read so much each day that he finished the book far before the end of the year. So he decided to read the Book of Mormon again.
When Grandpa finished the second time, he asked Grandma to call Kim, Cody, and Kate. “Tell them I did more than eat two cookies to go the extra mile. I loved the Book of Mormon so much that I read it two times before the end of the year!”
Illustration by Julie F. Young