After help was no longer needed, I learned a friend has been ill. It’s certainly not the first time that I’ve been oblivious to a need when I would have been happy to help. I’m glad to know that others did know and did help.

It’s made me reflect on an experience. I had thought of someone often for about a month, and when I finally called to ask if things were OK, she said, after a pause, “Well, they weren’t. But I got through it.”

I used some of my regret time to check on my own capacity to receive prompting. How was I to know if a prompting was from God or just from me?

Finally it dawned on me that if I am prompted to do good, I can simply do it!  In fact, as I strive to be like the Savior, an increased desire to lift other’s burdens is a sign of progress.

President Monson shared a little rhyme from an anonymous writer in his April 1991 Conference talk:

I have wept in the night
For the shortness of sight
That to somebody’s need made me blind;
But I never have yet
Felt a tinge of regret
For being a little too kind.

Our ward is really good at kindness. I’m grateful for the many kindnesses I’ve received, and honored to know of many kindnesses quietly given by ward members to each other. 

~Nita Smith