A Birthday Tribute to my Sister - Bearing One Another's Burdens!

I want to pay tribute to my dear Sister Shawna.  It is her 62^nd birthday today.  She is an amazing person and has so many Christ like traits.  She is a wonderful sister, daughter, wife and mother of 10 children.  Her life has been that of sacrifice as she has worked to raise a righteous posterity unto the Lord.  She and her husband Norm Jackson have only one child left in their nest now.  Shawna is loved by so many and has blessed many lives in her neighborhood and ward throughout her life.  Yet if asked, she would not think that she has made much of a difference.  Her silent strength of serving and enduring is an example of humility in and of itself.

Shawna has had Parkinson’s disease for about two years.  Her symptoms have gradually gotten worse.  She has come to the point where she feels embarrassed going out in public because she doesn’t want to draw attention to herself.  Every one of us will be given trials that can debilitate us unless we turn to the Lord for strength to endure.  To me Shawna is an example of this.

This last Sunday Shawna went to church by herself.  Her husband was out of town, but she pushed herself to be where she knew she should be.  As she entered the chapel, she sat at the very back on folding chairs by herself.  It wasn’t long before a family came and asked if they could sit by her.  She indicated they could.  As the time for the sacrament approached Shawna’s nerves began to get the best of her and she started shaking really bad.  She knew she wouldn’t be able to take the sacrament without a lot of stress.  I don’t know if she prayed for courage or what, but she leaned over to the father who was sitting closest to her.  She whispered that she was having an especially hard morning and was wondering if he would help her take the water.  He put his hand towards his lips and tilted his head as if asking if this is the help she needed.  She shook her head yes.  When the bread came, she was able to take it by herself.  Then when the water came, the father reached over and ever so reverently took a cup of our Lord’s emblems and raised it to Shawna’s lips.  She drank it and smiled at him.  He winked at her as if saying, “We did it!”  After sacrament meeting, Shawna went over to this family and told his wife how much she appreciated her husband helping her take  the sacrament.  He quickly chimed in, “It was an Honor!”

What does it mean to bear one another’s burdens?  Does it just mean to help those that you know and are comfortable helping?  Or does it mean to reach out of your comfort zone and really make a difference to someone who really needs your help, but is too embarrassed to ask?  I don’t know where it starts, but society and the church seems like it has gotten to the point that we are willing to help our fellowman when it is not awkward or uncomfortable. 

But wait, maybe we are selling our fellowman short.  Maybe the reason we don’t help is because we don’t know what to do.  If that’s the case we all need a lesson in ASKING for help, just like Shawna.  When we ask, we become vulnerable to another person, whether it is a friend or stranger.  When we do that, we immediately take away the hidden barrier and allow the miracle of service to change two lives.

It took a lot of courage for Shawna to do what she did.  I think she will find that the more people she opens up to, the less isolated she will feel and the more love and compassion she will receive.  The more we reach out to each other, the more we all can heal together.  The church is a hospital for sinners and those with physical and emotional ailments too.  If each of our sins, sorrows, pains and diseases gave off an odor like cigarettes did, OUR CHAPEL WOULD BE ONE STINKY PLACE!!  We all have trials in one way or another.  We need each other to survive them!  It is my hope that we can all be humble enough to ask for help like my sister did, and to offer help when we see a need.  There are so many good people who desire to serve, but service is a two way street.  You have to have a giver and a receiver.  At one time or another in our lives we need to be both.  Thank you Shawna for teaching us this principle through your sweet example.  I love you.  Happy Birthday!