Patriot Day

As we sauntered around the temple Sunday afternoon we encountered some friends of ours - a most exemplary pair. Thinking of these two instantaneously tightens a valve inside my soul, a valve that too often goes un-checked, a valve that too often allows self pity and pride to trickle throughout my consciousness.

We became acquainted with Zach and Megan several months ago when they moved into our ward boundaries. They were a seemingly typical newly-wedded couple. Busy. Involved. Happy. In love. They moved form the ward shortly thereafter.

And so began a deluge of drama:

After only a few weeks in their new apartment, and a few questionable encounters with their upstairs neighbors, they were advised by a community leader to move out fast because of seriously illegal behavior going on literally over their heads.

Shocking, Scary.

Immediately after their hasty move back into our ward, I found out that Megan was expecting a baby. And that Zach had been called up to Iraq. And to top it all off, Megan's father was battling cancer and was scheduled for major surgery.
Do you feel like complaining about your life? Neither do I.

Zach is currently at the end of a brief two week leave, enjoying a speck of time with his 34-weeks pregnant wife. But he'll leave again in a few days and he'll be standing with other US soldiers during his daughter's birth and throughout the vast majority (8-9 mo.)of her first year of life. And I can't even handle thinking about Megan, delivering a child solo, surviving the newborn days ahead without her husband's help, all the while uncertain about his safety. DAH!

But what is so impressive to me about the Andersons is their ATTITUDE. While I have seen a few tears of anxiety and uncertainty shed, heard a few words of disappointment spoken - I have never heard bitterness. I've heard hope. I've seen smiles. And I've felt faith. What admirable willingness to do hard things that are of service to others.

How EXEMPLARY.

As I think about the service these friends are faithfully rendering to our country, I'm reminded of a paragraph penned by Bryant Hinckley:

"Service is the virtue that has distinguished the great of all times and for which they are remembered. It places a mark of nobility upon its disciples. It is the dividing line which separates the two great groups of the world - those who help and those who hinder, those who lift and those who lean, those who contribute and those who only consume. How much better it is to give than to receive." (...Not By Bread Alone, Bryant S. Hinckly)

Our friends are contributing. Giving. Giving a lot. It motivates me to do more and complain LESS.