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I liked the Relief Society lesson a lot today. The teacher take on it really touched my heart. My favorite quotation was this one. “Joseph in the land of Egypt was called upon to perform a certain class of duties, which were made incumbent upon him. He was not called to preach the gospel without purse or scrip; but to build granaries, and to use all his influence with the King, nobles and people of Egypt to store their grain against a day of famine. … Now supposing that Joseph had gone to work and built an ark, he would not have been accepted of the Lord, neither could he have saved the people of Egypt nor his father’s house. When Noah was commanded to build an ark, supposing he had established granaries, he and his house could not have been saved. So in regard to ourselves, when duties are required at our hands, … whatever we may be required to do within the pale of the kingdom of the Almighty, we have to walk in the spirit of these requirements and perform them if we would gain power and influence with our God.”
I grew up in a place and time as a youth where many of our church lessons encouraged us to find the mission our Heavenly Father had for us. Those ideals struck my deeply. I’ve never let go of them. I’ve internalized them so much, that one time I came to see the church’s calling practice, as a metaphor for God’s calling you. In my internalization the need for the church to give me a calling would fade out, and my calling from God would take over my objective. I haven’t thought of that idea in a while, but this quote brought it back to me. I loved the Individual Worth or Divine Nature of it.
Thanks for sharing it. Nice perspective. I like it. Thanks, mom3.
In my participation at other churches I have been surprised by the concept of pondering and feeling one’s way through what God might be calling them to do. This might be great things like going on foreign missions and setting up relief organizations or small things like organizing the church library. In this way your natural talents and interests would be a prime consideration and the individual would have considerable creative autonomy in how to proceed. I believe that the drawback of of this system is that many people are fairly content to do nothing. In contrast, I believe that the Mormon system of assigned callings is more duty and responsibility based. The assigned roles are fairly well defined and there may be negative consequences for doing the unexpected. This system seems to draw service and participation out of a wider swath of people but could be stifling for those creative types that would rather beat their own path.
mom3 wrote:‘ve internalized them so much, that one time I came to see the church’s calling practice, as a metaphor for God’s calling you. In my internalization the need for the church to give me a calling would fade out, and my calling from God would take over my objective.
I really like this thought. The church calling system can be like the scaffolding and support system to help you grow. Once an individual has reached a certain maturity then the scaffolding could be removed to allow for even greater growth. Like training wheels!
:thumbup: Roy – I totally agree with your premise here – “I believe that the drawback of of this system is that many people are fairly content to do nothing.”
My neighbor across the street gives great parties. In the 14 years we have been neighbors she has always selected to be the party person for her church. She does change what groups she covers, but they are still parties none the less.
I guess it’s the moderation in all things or balance in life that is hopeful.
mom3 wrote:I grew up in a place and time as a youth where many of our church lessons encouraged us to find the mission our Heavenly Father had for us. Those ideals struck my deeply. I’ve never let go of them. I’ve internalized them so much, that one time I came to see the church’s calling practice, as a metaphor for God’s calling you. In my internalization the need for the church to give me a calling would fade out, and my calling from God would take over my objective. I haven’t thought of that idea in a while, but this quote brought it back to me. I loved the Individual Worth or Divine Nature of it.
That is what it means to be perfect. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) The Greek word translated as perfect is teleios. Teleios means to be complete, wanting nothing necessary to completeness, or to do what you were meant to do. In other words, a teleios person is one who “meets the measure of his creation”
When I explain this to the teenage SS class, I used the example of a screwdriver. It may not be perfectly round, it may have some imperfections in it, but if it can turn a screw into a piece of wood, then it has met the measure of its creation, and does what it was designed for. It is perfect!
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