"It Was the Least I Could Do"

Repeatedly in the scriptures, we are admonished to serve others, to bear one another's burdens that they may be light, to do it "unto the least of these." While I'm not especially good at this, I generally think of myself as the one who needs to perform the service, not as the recipient. I am young, strong, able-bodied; I rarely need others' help to go through the regular routine of my life.

But two days ago I was reminded that sometimes, we all need to stop and allow others to help us. We will be humbled as we receive help, and they will be blessed for their service. It's a win/win!

This past Friday was one of my favorite events: Employee Appreciation Discount Day at Albertson's. Because Eli works there, we always get 15% off all Albertson's brand products, but on this day, employees and their immediate families get an additional 15% off all purchases. That means 30% off Albertson's brand products and 15% off everything else. Wow! I love to stock up during these sales; I feel like I'm actually making progress on food storage, because with teenage boys, it's next to impossible to keep very much food in the house.

So off to the store Seth and I went. There were so many good sales, and with our 30% discount, we were making out like bandits. My cart grew fuller and fuller, until it was overflowing. We began to pile things on the rack underneath. Seth made a game of trying to fit just one more item into the cart. At last we finished and headed to the check-out line. I got $268 worth of groceries for just $155. What a rush. When the sweet courtesy clerk (I know and love all of them because they work with Eli) finally got all these groceries in bags and loaded into my cart, bags sat upon bags which sat upon other bags. She asked if I wanted a second cart, but Seth can't really handle one his own, so I said to just keep piling them in. Then, when the clerk asked the standard question, "Can I help you out with this?" I gave the standard answer, "No, I'm good."

That was my mistake. It was an honest one because I never need the courtesy clerks to help me, so it didn't even occur to me to say "yes," but still, it was a definite mistake. Seth and I headed out the front door, barely able to see over the piled-high grocery sacks. As we faced the bitter cold with snow blowing in our faces, I attempted to push the cart over the bumpy, frozen mounds of snow and ice that dotted the parking lot. I made it only a couple of feet when the front wheel of my cart hit a particularly big bump of ice, and the top layer of grocery bags came tumbling down. Cans rolled out all over. Eggs dropped. I tried not to cry.

As Seth and I began to gather our items, out of seemingly nowhere came this gentleman. He bent down and began to help us, refilling my bags and placing them back in the cart. I kept telling him he didn't need to do this, but he would not be dissuaded. When the bags were again in tact, he said, "Which way to your car?" I thanked him and again said that I would be fine from this point, but again, he insisted. Finally, I gave in, accepted this help which had been sent to me, and allowed this man to perform service on my behalf. He pulled the cart rather than trying to push it over the ice bumps. What an incredibly good idea, one that I obviously hadn't thought of. Once at my car, he helped me get the bags loaded in and was gone as quickly as he came. I shouted my profound gratitude as he left and barely heard his humble, quiet reply: "It was the least I could do."

I guess the commandment to serve our fellow beings is two fold. We must perform service when the opportunity arises as it did for this lovely man on Friday. And we must be just as willing to humbly receive the service of others. If we are not, imagine the many missed opportunities.