Sorry Bishop, I Don’t Want That Calling.

-

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we are called to different positions of service ranging from simpler, only-a-few-minutes-each-Sunday roles, to high intensity callings that seem to occupy a good portion of every day... or even callings that do occupy every minute of every day (missionary service).  Callings are opportunities to serve God by serving his children.

It always surprises me when people say things like, “I’m ok to not have a calling right now”, or “Sorry Bishop, I don’t want that calling.” When members with firm testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ turn down opportunities to show love and devotion to our Redeemer, it just makes me wonder.

One of the greatest gifts that God has given to all of us is agency. Agency to choose right or wrong, to serve a little, a lot, not at all, or to fight against the will of God. We get to choose the action but we don’t get to choose the consequence. There are a lot of good consequences that we receive from serving in God’s church. God wants to bless us and he does that, when we serve him.

When Mikayla and I were engaged we met with my single’s ward bishop, Mikayla’s single’s ward bishop and even Mikayla’s home ward bishop. They all had lots of great advice and counsel to give, but something their counsel had in common was the triangle example. It’s a simple diagram of an equilateral or isosceles triangle with God at the top angle, and the husband and wife at the respective bottom angles. Usually the bottom line is erased so it looks more like an upside down V.  The whole point of the triangle is to show that if husband and wife want to grow closer to one another then they both need to grow closer to God.

As we serve God we grow closer to him and become more like him, the same goes for our spouse. Who wouldn’t want to be married to a spouse that has qualities of God? I love Mikayla and I love that she puts serving in God’s kingdom as a priority. She never shies away from giving service or fulfilling a calling. Now, she isn’t perfect, and neither am I. However, we both strive to be obedient to God. This in turn brings us closer together.

So the moral of this blog post is, if you want to grow closer to your spouse, then say YES to that hard calling, say YES to ministering to that person you don’t know or even don’t like, say YES to supporting the way your bishop runs your local ward, and say YES to serving God by serving your spouse. God will see your good works and bless you for them.


image from: https://godlymarriagesarebeautiful.wordpress.com/2017/11/13/love-triangle/


-Kevin

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Couples & COVID-19

-
Image
Hello Friends! Okay. So we've been gone for a minute. Like all of you, our lives have been turned topsy-turvy by the implications of Coronavirus. As you are, we are also facing and navigating through a trial that has surprised us as a couple and presented some confusing and unprecedented waters to tread in our marriage journey. There are hundreds of varieties of ways this global pandemic is impacting our lives, and our marriages.  The most grave and serious challenges include loss of life and serious illness (from COVID-19 and other conditions), unemployment, domestic abuse, and more. If you are facing any of these varieties of challenges, we sincerely pray for you and also urge you to seek the help you need. Other challenges facing us might be less dire, and are also painful and hard, from parents learning to homeschool, to piqued anxiety and depression, to working from home, to working overtime (healthcare and other essential professionals), loneliness in separation from
Read more

A Little Intro

-
I wish I had a perfect way to start this. Anyone that knows me well knows how much I love words, and I particularly LOVE catchy titles. But alas, after much thought and deliberation...today's post, the first of it's kind on this spanking-new blog, is pretty simple and straightforward. Here's the who, what, why and how of this blog to give you an idea of what we're all about in this new writing venture. WHO: My husband, Kevin Johnson, & I met in early September 2014 during our undergraduate studies ( the details of this sappy but delicious story are forthcoming ). We were "official" at the end of October, engaged at the end of January, and married at the end of May. We've been married for 4 years now. We are the delighted parents of two precious little boys. I practiced as an Elementary School Teacher for two years, but currently stay home full time with our kidlets. I still love teaching and plan to return to practice in later years. Kevin is a
Read more

The BBQ Sauce Principle

-
Image
I’m going to start things off by saying that I’m not much of a writer. Mikayla has a way with words that I will probably never amount to, but I’m going to give this blogging thing a go.  When Mikayla and I were engaged we decided to never get in an argument, and to this day we haven't. We have never yelled at one another, so that’s a win. But we have had our fair share of miscommunications. The first of these happened a few weeks into officially being husband and wife. In college, I wasn’t much of a cook. When I wasn’t feeling up for hotdogs, cereal, mac and cheese, or ramen noodles (75% of my college student diet) I’d try something from the family cook book my mother made for me. Ofttimes it would taste funny, so I’d just throw some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce on it...and that would solve the problem.  It just became a habit. When I’d set the table, BBQ sauce was always there, too.             Because Mikayla made actual food for us (and not just cereal) I would
Read more