Sunday, October 21, 2012

A long day of service

Sundays are a weird day. It is a day for worship, and for many people it is also a day of rest. However, there are a number of callings in the church for which Sunday is probably the busiest day of the week. I am a counselor in a bishopric currently and that is definitely the case for me.

For example, this past Sunday we started the day with a bishopric meeting at 7:00. Other ward meetings kept us going till 10:30-ish. I then went to speak to some members of the ward about a new calling for them. That took me right up until choir practice, which I got to conduct. (As a side note, it takes a lot out of me conducting a choir. I love it and I get very excited and animated - it is a full-body workout for me when I conduct and I put a lot of energy into it. I am pretty tired after I've conducted choir practice for an hour, but I still have an absolute blast.) After choir I got to go home for a little under an hour before I had to get back to church to prepare for our meeting block. During the block I had the pleasure to do 4 different temple recommend interviews - a pleasure to do, but one that takes some focus and can be a bit tiring.

After the block we take care of any immediate needs of the members of the ward and then go into the clerk's office to count the tithes and offerings and then convey them to the bank for deposit. This particular Sunday we then had some additional meetings and visits to attend after that which took us well into the night. I got home a little after 10:30 PM. While it was a bit out of the ordinary to have a day that busy, it was by no means an isolated case. I don't work that hard or that long on any day for my job. At the same time, I'm not complaining. If I had to keep hours like that for my job, I'd quit tomorrow. But for my calling at church, it can actually be a huge blessing to be able to provide so much service.

This Sunday also had some unusual blessings for me: three times I received very subtle promptings about something I needed to do or say, and every time it turned out to be exactly what was needed by those on whose behalf the prompting came. The unusual part was that normally a prompting comes very strong and sure with a very definite feeling. These promptings were much more subtle, and yet I knew them for what they were. They came more as persistent thoughts that wouldn't go away - not accompanied by any strong feeling, just a persistence that felt almost insistent. It was unusual for me, but I'm glad I listened and acted on the thoughts. I learned a great deal.

So, today I'm grateful for Sundays. I'm grateful for my calling and the constant acts of service I'm asked to do. I'm grateful that the Lord has seen fit on occasion to use me as His tool to perform acts of service for others. I'm grateful for a wife who supports me. I'm grateful for the blessing it is to serve the Lord in whatever way I can.

It was just a good day.

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