Called to Serve

Called to serve Him, Heavenly King of glory, chosen e'er to witness for His name (LDS hymn# 249.) For those that have sang that in the Missionary Training Center with thousands of fellow missionaries, you know that it can be quite a powerful experience. I remember thinking to myself when I was in the MTC that I couldn't be in a better place with better people. To be able to serve in that capacity was an honor and one of the best times of my life. To have a calling of any type, whether it is father, mother, nursery leader or greeter at church can have some wonderful benefits. I would like to talk about these benefits but today I would also like to bring attention to the fact that callings can be detrimental to ourselves if we aren't careful.

Callings are wonderful because it can open up avenues to help those that we may be unaware of. It can bless us with the opportunity to serve those that we wouldn't personally chose to serve and thereby getting to know them. Once Marjorie Pay Hinckley said," Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." By serving others, we learn about an individual's personal battles. Knowing people's battles helps us to be empathetic, thoughtful of their needs and less judgemental. It also helps us to understand more about life in general and hopefully expand our insight instead of staying narrow minded and closed off.

I don't think that there was or is anyone who knew how to serve better than Jesus Christ. To me, He is who defines how someone should serve others. He is the epitome of unbiased love. I believe He avoided the pitfalls that we can come in contact with even if our intentions are good.

No one likes thinking that their behaviors are more like the Pharisees or Sadducees and less like the one that gave His life in service. I've always found Jewish culture and tradition fascinating. Their way of life was / is steeped in ritual and law. The LDS church is also cultured and holds traditions that are fascinating to me. We also live in a church that is steeped in ritual and law. What is the difference? It depends on who you are. The Pharisees were poor rabbis. They immersed themselves in scripture study and prayer. Sounds pretty commendable to me, right? The Sadducees came from wealthy and privileged families. They were fortunate enough to be educated. They believed in written law and were in charge of the sacrifices that were done at the temple. Why were these groups humiliated, moçked and torn apart by the Master if their deeds were good?

Is it possible to immerse yourself in a calling so much that at some point it turns you into something negative, pious, bias and arrogant? I believe so. I used to have such a negative attitude towards the Pharisees and Sadducees, thinking that they were horrid and cruel until I realized that in actuality they simply thought they were doing what's right. They believed in the law of God but didn't take the time to step out of their rituals to see that there was a person who might have had a better way to live. I've heard a wise man say,"you can't fairly reject something until you have fairly considered it."  Sadly, they lost out because they "could not look beyond the mark" to see something beautiful. They didn't want to take the time to consider.

In modern days I have seen some people that have been wonderful examples to me of what a calling can do for them and others. I was raised in the LDS church by good parents but it wasn't until I attended early morning seminary that I wanted to make scripture study apart of my life. My seminary teacher got up at 4:30 am to teach a bunch of rowdy kids the scriptures. She never complained about the lack of sleep and all the studying she did. I don't think that she missed more than half a dozen days of seminary in the four years that I attended. But even more importantly, she instilled in me the importance of scripture study. She served with love and devotion which will stay with me for the rest of my life.

On the flip side of that, I have also seen people take their callings and turn into something vile due to their arrogance, pride and serving only for appearances and status elevation. This obviously affects others as well or as Christ stated," they have their reward." Wouldn't it be more simplistic to look for opportunities to serve others and just serve them instead of submitting names to committees and thinking of a way to use compulsion in making them do the things we think they should do? Shouldn't have less meetings and spend more time with or families? I'm grateful for the way that Jesus served others, freely and without consulting a committee first.