Benevolence and Benadryl

So I was out on a run last Wednesday evening. It started off as a great run, beautiful weather, pleasant breeze and I was just feelin good all around.

By the end of the run, my eyes were practically swollen shut, I had tears streaming down my face, I couldn't stop sniffling and I thought I was going to die.

What happened you ask?

Hay-fever happened. Allergies got the best of me.

I guess I just forget that I get allergies really bad every spring. So they came again and snuck up on me this semester. And let me tell you, they sure have been kicking my toosh. The sneezing, the watering eyes, the runny nose, the foggy thinking, the energy zapping etc etc.

Anyways, back to my story, so I'm walking up the stairs to come home from my run, and I run into my dear friend LeeAnn. I was so very happy to run into her because she was leaving for home (Ohio) the next day, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to say goodbye. 

This is LeeAnn and I on a group date. She is seriously one of the most gorgeous girls I have ever met.

Anyways, I had a nice chat with her, during which she noticed my apparent allergy problem. Well, I woke up the next morning only to find this on my kitchen table:

IT says: "Noelle, hope this helps! And they say that a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down, or in this case, some chocolate. Feel better! Love, your fairy GodMother"

My first thought when I saw this was, "This has visiting teachers written all over it!" Wrong, this was simply a good friend who went way out of her way on a day where she could have been doing a million other things (seeing as she was preparing to fly across the country) to help out a sniffling, sneezing friend.

I couldn't believe it.

It made me think of this talk given by Sister Cook in the April 2011 General Young Women's conference. SUCH a great talk, I highly recommend reading it. In it, she encourages us to become benevolent.

Benevolent: "A lovely word that we don’t hear very often. Its roots are Latin, and it means “to wish someone well.”To be benevolent is to be kind, well meaning, and charitable."

LeeAnn Riggs is benevolent. She and Sister Cook have given me a new found desire to become more benevolent. To be a little kinder, to be more selfless, to forget my own needs and desires for a moment to focus on the needs of others. Benevolent. Gosh, that is a lovely word isn't it?

Thanks LeeAnn, I shall pay it forward for sure.

Love, Noelle