Good Works #2

Service is an essential principle of family living. Help plan your family’s menus, obtain the food, and prepare part of the meals for two weeks. During that time help your family gather to share mealtimes. Report to your class what you have learned.



Well, I do this every day! As a mother it is part of my responsibility of caring for my family, but I never thought of it as service until now. It was just part of my job. But it is gratifying to know that I'm serving my family just by doing the things I know they need.

I have learned a few things over the last few years though. First, I learned that I love cooking! More to the point, I love cooking for those who are appreciative of good food. Todd and Oliver eat what I make, more or less (Todd more, Oliver less!) But when my sister Camilla and her family came to stay with us, it was SO fun to cook for them, because they thought everything I made was delicious, and they said so.

My gorgeous sister Camilla. Wish I had a picture of the whole family!

I found myself trying to think of all the yummy things I could make for them in the time they would spend with us, just to make them happy. I realized that that is sort of like our relationship with our Father in Heaven. When we feel and express our gratitude for the things He has given us, He adds more blessings because of our greatful hearts. D&C 78:19 says:

"And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more."

But I digress. I also learned that it is so much easier to make good meals for my family if I am prepared. That means having the ingredients on hand, and making sure I leave time in my day for preparing the meal. This is a little bit more difficult for me, because I hate grocery shopping! So this is something I'm going to work on. Going shopping regularly so that I can be more prepared.

I have learned that eating together is essential to our family. We don't have the TV on, and we don't answer the phone during meal times (we aren't really texters, or that would be prohibited as well.) Studies have shown that eating dinner together as a family is good in several ways. WebMD lists 10 reasons to have family meals:

• Everyone eats healthier meals.
• Kids are less likely to become overweight or obese.
• Kids more likely to stay away from cigarettes.
• They're less likely to drink alcohol.
• They won't likely try marijuana.
• They're less likely to use illicit drugs.
• Friends won't likely abuse prescription drugs.
• School grades will be better.
• You and your kids will talk more.
• You'll be more likely to hear about a serious problem.
• Kids will feel like you're proud of them.
• There will be less stress and tension at home.

Those all sound like good things to me! I know things will get more difficult as our children grow older, and begin having more outside activities, but I think that by establishing a habit now, it will make it just a little bit easier in the future. And Time Magazine had an article in 2006 about how necessary it is to teens. I'm glad we're establishing a pattern now, so we can be blessed in the future.