Home » Helping Others » Get Involved in a Good Cause » Magnifying Our Calling (How small acts of service can have profound consequences)
| Magnifying Our Calling [message #1482] |
Sun, 25 November 2012 16:19  |
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Denryu
Messages: 88
Registered: July 2012
Location: American Fork
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Member |
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These are based on some impressions that I got at church today. It is kind of organized like a talk, as I do intend to rework it a bit and have it as a talk that I am ready to give if called upon. I hope that it is helpful to someone. It was quite amazing as I was taught by the spirit during sacrament meeting, that the concluding speaker could almost have been speaking from the thoughts that I had jotted down.
Magnifying Our Calling
What does it mean to magnify our calling? When we magnify something, what are we usually doing with it? We are examining it!
Socrates said "the unexamined life is not worth living". Perhaps along similar lines, and unexamined calling is not worth filling.
There are no unimportant callings, there are only unmagnified callings.
When I was called to be a nursery leader, it was at a time when I had recently grown quite a bit in my gospel understanding. In my pride, I couldn't help but feel that my talents were being wasted in a calling with children too young to have a meaningful gospel discussion with. We often joke that callings we receive are 5% inspiration and 95% desperation. Initially, I felt that was certainly the case with me.
However, as I prayed about it, I was assured that the calling was inspired. As I continued to pray about it, I began to examine closely or MAGNIFY my calling. The Lord taught me some very important lessons about being a nursery leader.
The first thing that I was taught is that as a nursery leader, I could probably have a more significant impact on these young children's lives than almost any other calling. As I was taught this, I felt a little bit of disbelief. How could a nursery leader be THAT important? Wasn't all I was really doing was giving the parents a couple of hours break so that they could focus on their study of the gospel?
The answer that I got to this question was that Yes, I was providing a service to the parents. But even though these children later in life would never remember me, I was having an influence that could indeed have a profound effect on their lives.
This was one of the very first times, for many of the children, to be in an environment of learning to get along with others, to share, and to even be separated from Mom and Dad or siblings. Anyone who has been a nursery leader knows how difficult that first few times in the nursery can be for some kids. And the inspiration that I received as I considered this told me that some very fundamental feelings and attitudes are formed during this "traumatic" experience. And that these attitudes would become a part of these children's subconscious attitudes that would affect them in significant ways throughout their life, and would affect how they did in school, how well they learned about fairness, sharing, the importance of being loved and loving each other. What a great trust was being given to me in this calling!
Another example of magnifying calling goes back to when I was in nursery, which I obviously don't remember. But it illustrates the significance that a nursery leader and a neighbor can have by faithfully serving others.
When I was in nursery, my mother was an inactive member of the church, and my father was not a member. However, each Sunday a neighbor lady would take me to church for nursery, even thought my parents did not attend church. Put yourself in the shoes of the nursery leader how easy it would have been to say that they were watching the children of those attending the ward, but they weren't providing a day-care for the entire neighborhood. Looking back, it is really quite amazing the level of service that this neighbor and that nursery leader provided.
Eventually, the neighbor moved out of the ward, and because my nursery leader had made it an experience that I enjoyed, I still wanted to go to nursery! This led to eventually my mom at first taking me from time to time, but gradually becoming more active. Eventually, she decided to have the missionary discussions, because although she had been a member her entire life, there was much about the gospel that she had never been taught. My father was not interested, but he did listen some from another room when the missionaries came.
Long story short, they were both baptized and sealed in the temple just after my 8th birthday. My dad went on to become a bishop and serve in a stake presidency, but more important than the positions that he held, he and my mom were both devoted servants of the Lord. I went on to serve a mission and be sealed in the temple. I also influenced two of my friends who had somewhat wild teenage years to serve missions, both of whom told me they never would have if I had not been a good friend who didn't judge them for some of their bad habits, and both went on to be sealed in the temple and raise families in the gospel.
All of this because a neighbor took me to nursery and a nursery leader made it an experience that I enjoyed. It is impossible to measure the ripple effect that this simple magnifying of calling had on many lives throughout eternity. . I hope that we can all take the time to magnify and examine our callings. As we do so I know that we will also be "called" by promptings of the spirit to serve in ways other than our official capacities in the church. As we magnify all of our callings, both those of inspiration and those of desperation, we will indeed begin to establish Zion and become a Zion people.
Libertas optimas rarem, nunquam servili sub nexu.
"There is no gift like Liberty, therefore never live under slavery."
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| Re: Magnifying Our Calling [message #1485 is a reply to message #1482] |
Mon, 26 November 2012 03:57  |
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Dragon
Messages: 499
Registered: June 2010
Location: Earth
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Senior Member |
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Thank you for sharing such an amazing story! It is far easier to determine how the calling of Bishop or Primary President influences people. I'm glad you found meaning in your calling.
- Dragon
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