Saturday, February 26, 2011

Callings - How to magnify?

I still need to write about sacrifice (and finish my lesson for tomorrow), but here's a couple thoughts:

C0ncerning magnifying our callings - Here's something President Monson said in 1999 - What does it mean to magnify a calling? It means to build it up in dignity and importance, to make it honorable and commendable in the eyes of all men, to enlarge and strengthen it to let the light of heaven shine through it to the view of other men. And how does one magnify a calling? Simply by performing the service that pertains to it. An elder magnifies the ordained calling of an elder by learning what his duties as an elder are and then by doing them. As with an elder, so with a deacon, a teacher, a priest, a bishop, and each who holds office in the priesthood.

So how do we do this? I think we consider how we will affect the most people in each of our callings and then do things that will affect them. That sounds simple, but here are some examples:
1) Sunday school teachers usually think their calling is to teach the lesson on Sunday. It is, but I think it's also to know the names of the people in the class and reach out to those who aren't there but should be. I believe most, if not all, would appreciate a phone call from a Sunday School teacher who missed them in class.
2) I once knew a chior director that emailed the ward with the songs before Church on Sunday to let them know why those songs were chosen and something about their meaning.
3) Home teachers need to ask real questions such as how is your family prayer and scripture study and perhaps even, do you guys like each other? How are dates going? Any family activities occurring?
4) Visiting people and getting to know them is pretty worthwhile. Most of our callings could give us reasons to do that.

I'm not saying I'm the best at these things. Truthfully, the most important thing is to ask God what he'd like us to get accomplished (or come up with the plan ourselves and then asking him if that's right) and do it. I just think we could do a little more than we think sometimes, and it might not take more time, just more thought and faith and care.

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