Sunday, January 11, 2009
Too busy
It's so easy to be a busy mormon. All you have to do is live like a run-of-the-mill active mormon and you've pretty much got it. That in and of itself isn't a bad thing. It's when the "church stuff" takes up all your time and there's no time left for the spiritual stuff that really matters. You could run around all day doing church stuff, feeling very righteous and not be doing anything to grow spiritually, not having any lasting, meaningful impact on your own salvation. The problem with that is that you might not even realize that's what is happening. The greatest culprit is a calling...you could spend so much time fulfilling a calling that you don't do anything meaningful for your own personal relationship with God and you don't take the time needed for your family. I decided when i got called to work in young women's that my goal would be to spend as little time as possible. That may sound horrible to some, but i have a husband and children that need as much time as i can give them. The same goes for a lot of the things we do in church. Those things that people expect, but are non-essential. (as long as i'm going to young women's activities once a week, i put enrichment in that category). i don't want to be away from my family. Too many times, i've seen the damage that can be done when church responsibilities take us away more than they should. We have a responsibility to fulfill a calling that we have accepted, but we have a bigger responsibility to ourselves, our spouse and our kids. It's easy to believe that you are living a righteous life just because you are very busy with church stuff.
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I love having lots of work in my calling and thats only because I put my spirituality, testimony and family first. I think when a calling is fulfilled correctly it can greatly edify a person's spiritual needs- using prayer to help in a calling, using official Church publications, relying on the Lord to help us align, prioritize and make the best use of our time, it can greatly help us to learn to further rely on the Lord. I have also learned many things I can apply to my life and my parenting. I love working with you in Young Womens! You are awesome! and your concern and protection of your testimony will keep you and your family strong.
ReplyDeleteHey, just ran across your other blog here! :) This is something that I have struggled with in my calling. Balancing my calling with my family, husband and other responsibilities. I think you are right when saying that you can run around doing busy church stuff, but not doing anything to grow spiritually... or helping others to grow spiritually. We had an auxiliary training last Sat. and they said it several times... "People before the programs" We could be so busy, busy, busy planning activities and other things for the "program" that we are forgetting about the people. To me that makes it seem much more simple. I have made a new goal to simplify and to really focus on those who may be struggling, instead of worrying about the next activity we need to plan.
ReplyDeleteKinda funny, I made the same goal as you... partly out of necessity because my husband is NEVER home- to spend as little time as possible on my calling- It doesn't sound horrible because I completely understand what you mean! It could really take over my life if I let it... but at what cost? I had a best friend in HS who fell away because his dad was always so busy with his callings he was never around, he felt like his dad put his callings before his family. I would hate for anything like that to happen. I do want to be an example to my children that is it important to serve in the church and do the best that we can, but our callings are only for a short time and our families are forever and they should always be first priority.
I have enjoyed reading your thoughts on here! -Amy O'Neill