A Single Thread

Nov 2007 Issue

By Gail Jackson

Last month Forbes Magazine published its list of the 400 wealthiest people. Each individual on the list is worth more than $1 billion! Material wealth beyond our wildest imagination.

Let me ask you three questions:

1. Did you have a choice of what to wear this morning?

2. Did you have more than one food item for dinner last night?

3. Do you have transportation other than walking?

If you answered “yes” to just ONE of these questions, you are among 10% of the richest people who have ever lived.

No matter our individual financial means or struggles, our material wealth is beyond the wildest imagination of 90 percent of the people who have ever lived!

In Mosiah 18:27 we read, “And again Alma commanded that the people of the church should impart of their substance, everyone according to that which he had, if he have more abundantly he should impart more abundantly, and of him that had but little, but little should be required, and to him that had not should be given.”

Those on Forbes’ list can give millions to various worthy causes with ease. Probably without even noticing it is gone. While I do not mean to downplay the good they do, but how much more meaningful the widow’s mite.

The following, “Doers and Dreamers,” came from Anxious to Bless, the newsletter of the Church Humanitarian Department.

“The woman who slouched down in the front seat of the bus distressed me. Her hair was matted, her face dirty, and though it was a cold night outside, she was wearing only a flimsy cotton dress and a blanket through which she had torn holes for her arms. What should I do, I wondered. She was so obviously in need.

Wasn’t there some shelter I could direct her to, some place where she’d get the attention she required? No, I finally reasoned, her problems were too much for me. As I pondered and rejected possible solutions to the woman’s plight the bus came to a stop. A young man, poorly dressed but neat, rose to leave. He slipped off his black knit gloves and as he passed this woman he simply laid them on her lap.”

Hymns remind us to count our many blessings and to give because we have been given much.

November is the traditional time of giving thanks. Let us give thanks for what we have been blessed with and give to others so they too may be blessed.

Our newly sustained counselor in the First Presidency, Henry B. Eyring, told us that he takes a moment at the end of each and every day to recount, and record, the ways the Lord has touched his life that day. I want to make this a part of my nightly routine.

Each morning I want to ask the Lord how I can be an instrument in His hand. I will ask how my mite might become mighty in helping someone in need.

Regular readers know that we have a son with addiction problems. Dave and I, with Brin’s permission and encouragement, work with the loved ones of those suffering from this terrible disease. When talking with one of our fellow group members one day about a remarkable “coincidence,” he told us that coincidences were our Heavenly Father’s way of remaining anonymous. How simple. How powerful!

On a large scale we have the Humanitarian program of the Church which is beyond compare. President Hinckley has said, “We are trying to reach out to those who find themselves in terrible trouble, because of war, floods, earthquakes, drought, and other disasters. Human suffering anywhere and among any people is a matter of urgent concern for us.”

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve and chairman of the church’s humanitarian committee said “We do not ask, are you members of our church? We only ask, do you suffer?”

The services provided by the Humanitarian Department, accomplished by thousands of individuals who volunteer, is almost unfathomable. Most of it is done “behind the scenes” with no thought to recognition or reward.

It is said that if many hands each contributed just one thread, a shirt can quickly be made for a suffering person. As members of the Church each of us are called on to give our threads to mass production – Church orchards, canneries, service projects, and other donations of time, both within the confines of the Church programs and in our communities. And we respond. In times of disasters we readily respond.

A friend of mine recently shared an experience of her brother. He was on a flight and seated next to a gentleman who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. As they talked about the experience the man told of all the wonderful help that had been provided during that time and noted that only two churches were there from beginning to end — “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Mormons.”

A few winters ago we picked Brin up when he was released from the Provo jail. It was very cold. As we drove down a street he suddenly exclaimed, “Pull over!” We had no idea what was going on. He jumped from the car and hurried after a woman Dave and I hadn’t even noticed, who was pushing a toddler in a stroller. He gave her his stocking cap. He gave his mite.

It is my hope that we will each strive to be even more aware of, and in tune to, the needs of others and to realize how much our single thread can do.