With the Valentine's Day Spirt in the air, I thought I should share an experience I had yesterday that opened my eyes even more to what real love may be.
Now, with that in mind, let me make another statement...
I am grateful for the constant companionship of the spirit. Ladies and gents, it is such a precious gift. Sometimes it speaks to us in ways we don't even recognize in the moment.
With both of those thoughts, here's what happened...
There I was practicing in the piano lab. I was planning on staying for an hour but all of the sudden with my hour almost but not quite being up, I decided to leave, with the intention of accomplishing another errand, realizing I should drop off some belongings at my locker inside the Accessibility Center lab at the library. Hence I packed up my belongings and made my way over there.
As I was unloading at my locker to lighten my load (because believe me--it's quite a load with my school books, gym bag and Cayston supplies) it took me a moment to realize that something didn't feel right...almost eerie, and then I heard some quiet muffled sounds--almost gasps--from the back of the lab. I wasn't sure what to do at that moment when an elderly lady came out from the corner on her scooter. She must have been in her 80s. She was pretty tiny and had a pile of paperwork and school books on her lap.
"Could you help me?" She asked me in her quiet, muffled voice in between her gasps for air. I believe she thought I worked there since I don't look like I have any physically-limiting condition. So, I decided to go along with it since I could tell she was in a hurry.
It was just us two in the lab, as she had been there alone. At first I had a hard time understanding her as she was about to leave, feeling unaccomplished. She was troubled as she simply could not figure out how to print her paper for her writing class that she was running late to. It was a simple task, so I figured why not? As I had to listen carefully to the words she tried to speak, she asked for my help--not only for the printer but for the smallest tasks. She instructed me step by step on what to do as I tried to hide my nerves; I was terrified of hurting her. As she wanted me to help her slip her arm into her sleeve, I soon realized she could not move her arms at all as they were as stiff as could be, as she must have been paralyzed to a pretty good degree. It was a little difficult but I was finally able to slip it in.
Then I was buttoning up her coat and helping her get ready to leave. She insisted she no longer needed the paper printed but instead I insisted it could be done. I helped her pull out her card, swiped it, and her paper was printed. She then coached me to where she wanted her paper placed inside her folder.
As soon as it was all done, we looked each other in the eye as I could see her gratitude shine through
And her unstable voice let out a thank you as she shared her warm, sweet smile that her face managed to pull.
This experience made me think more about what true love is--perfect charity, as the Savior Himself demonstrated. As I thought about it, I was grateful for my own physical condition. Although it is not nearly as limiting--not even close, I was even more thankful for, it allowed me to have my locker there to meet and be able to reach out to this sweet woman. I felt a little inadequate as I was afraid of hurting her, but that's what the Lord does--He takes our inadequacies and turns them into something much greater to help out those around us.
It's amazing to see what the spirit leads us to do if we strive to live our lives to obey its promptings, even when we don't realize we are hearing/feeling them in the moment. We can be the answer to someone's cries when they need help. We Lord's helping hands for His sons and daughters on this earth who He loves so much.
After all, it is He who shows us what real love is.
