It was Friday, around noon. I had taken the day off from work to play with my daughter and grandchildren, who were in town for the weekend. The telephone rang, and the caller was Laurel, the director of the Time Out for Women programs. Jason Wright, who was supposed to speak in Portland the next day, had fallen ill. Was there any chance I might be available to take his place on such short notice?

I made a couple of phone calls, rearranged some of our family's plans, and called back to say I'd be happy to go. I hopped a plane at 9:00, got up and spoke the next morning. As a volunteer at the event was walking me to the train station so I could get to the airport for my 4:30 flight that afternoon, she thanked me again for coming and I said, "Oh, it was such a blessing to me."

"How can you say that?" she said, and she really wanted to know. "How could it be a blessing to drop everything you're doing and fly out and give a speech and fly back all in the space of 24 hours?"

I had to stop and think about that for a minute. Had I just given a "canned" response, calculated to make her feel better about inconveniencing me?  No, it had been a true statement. I had really felt blessed for being there. I had felt good about being able to help out my Time Out team. I had felt good about the message I was able to give. I had felt a spiritual connection with several hundred really great women. And the experience had given me a precious opportunity to ask my husband if he would be all right with changing our plans and to hear him say, "Absolutely! I support you ALL THE WAY on this. And tell Laurel how much we love her and appreciate her." His support made it easy for me to say yes.

This got me thinking further down the line on the whole notion of blessings, and service, and how those things seem to work, and it occurred to me that serving is hardly EVER convenient. Some of the most rewarding experiences of our lives also seem to be the biggest nuisances, at least at first. And I know there have been times when I have missed out on blessings Heavenly Father intended me to have because I simply couldn't face the hassle.

So I'm trying to look at service opportunities with new eyes. I'm trying to sign up whenever the list comes around to help clean the ward building, or fill a pasta factory welfare assignment, or take in dinner to someone. I'm looking harder for ways to say yes, even though I know there are times I will have to say no, and that it's all right for me to do that. And I'm trying to remember that I can make it easier for my loved ones to serve, just by supporting them ALL THE WAY even when their service inconveniences me as well as them. Blessings often come in the most unexpected disguises!