- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
Just curious about what you think about this question. In a lesson it was raised that in the pecking order of priorities, serving in the church should be a very, very high priority throughout our lives. The person who raised this said it is because of the temple covenants, presumably the one that tells us to dedicate our time and talents etcetera. Which had me wondering if the temple is really a place for achieving balance, when so many other aspect of life, like work, for example are not represented? There is ample emphasis on family, and on the church, as well as personal character but not so much on other aspects such as work and even personal leisure.
Comments?
I understand the approved priority list to be: 1) Employment
2) Family
3) Church service
4) Self
Now, I don’t think that this list is perfect – maybe it should also include community involvement etc. But it at least gives me ample space to consider the potential ramifications of church service upon work and family needs and act accordingly.
As far as personal leisure… I would
notbring that into a disscussion of why I couldn’t at this time accept XYZ calling. 😆 They can – and, frankly, there are times “balance” means different things in my life. They don’t have to – especially if I recognize what I just said above.
It’s up to me.
It can and I think over 100 years ago it more often did. I appreciate the efforts that have been made more recently to be understanding and accommodating of personal and family life. Jesus taught, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, the kingdom of God is within you.”So… when we covenant to give our all to building up the kingdom of God… we are covenanting to building up our spirituality within.
Only when we are built up spiritually (emotionally & intellectually), can we be in tune as to do God’s will which varies with circumstances & is as dynamic as our lives are.
Other people’s interpretations and even our own of temple covenants can create imbalance, from my perspective. My family is my most important calling from God (even in my patriarchal blessing!) Building up the kingdom of God first of all starts with my family. I must be balanced spiritually, emotionally, physically to do even that. Emotionally -take care of myself. Handle my stress. If a situation is causing great stress, change it. Having down time is very important to refresh. Physically-take care of myself. Poor health does not enable me to serve more or better. Spiritually-take care of myself. If so many situations (family needs. callings at church, etc) are keeping me from having time to meditate, study, ponder, receive personal revelation, something needs to change. I have learned that knowing that God knows my heart, my willingness and my situation goes a long way when in others’ disapproval zones. No one else can receive that degree of revelation for us. We must guard against internalizing others opinions and perspectives and stick to our personal revelation on ordering our priorities. I gotta say: No. The temple does not cause imbalance. It does force one to slow down and seriously meditate for a couple of hours, completely detached from the distractions of the world. Such discipline helps me center. It is a meditating experience, coupled with spiritual insight. All good.
I think it’s like the statement “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.” The temple doesn’t cause imbalance, but people use the temple as justification to be imbalanced. There are some who want to “bind” God through their obedience. I think it’s kind of like being superstitious. Some people have control issues and want a guarantee. But in reality, I think you could do that with or without the temple. I have to be honest, that phrasing in the temple gives me pause. Here’s an actual thought I had at the time: “Does this mean I should learn to play the piano because our ward doesn’t have a good pianist right now? If not, am I really doing all I could?” Now it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if I did, but it’s also not really practical. Bloom where you’re planted. Do your best. I guess I got older, jaded and quit caring. Zealousness doesn’t last forever.
But if you look at the actual wording of the covenants (not discussed here in any detail, obviously) I tend to think the focus is on personal righteousness, obeying God, wifely obedience to husbands (a real controversial thing to some people) and commitment to the church. I see employment and personal renewal left out of it laregely unless included through nuance and extrapolation, or justified by saying you get to spend some time in the celestial room.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.