I love serving in the church. I've heard people say that having a calling shouldn't be part of your own personal identity, but that doesn't make any sense to me. When I serve, I give everything I have to the calling, and when I do that, I feel so much better about myself and about life in general. The few times that I haven't had a calling (generally when I first move into a ward), I feel a bit lost, but I'm full of anticipation of whatever new challenge will be given me.
A have a lot of favorite callings. Organist. Gospel Doctrine teacher. Seminary teacher. I even loved being Primary President, but it's been so long that those memories feel far away. Across the board though, leading Singing Time in Primary makes me the happiest. I love that calling, and if I could do it the rest of my life, I would!
I've now been teaching seminary for 3 1/2 years (yep, another chapter coming to an end), and I also teach Gospel Doctrine. These callings have s-t-r-e-t-ch-e-d me like no other. Holy smokes, I have learned so much, and in regular church conversation now, I can reference scriptures and other sources without the usual memory lapses of my previous non-studious scripture life. I love it, and I wonder what exactly is going to happen to my personal scripture study without being forced to study in preparation for a lesson.
As a consequence of fulfilling these callings however, I've been given the "opportunity" to attend Relief Society for several years.
This is not my favorite thing to do in the world.
At all.
In fact, my mouth hangs open in amazement when all of the women are given the chance to forego their Primary and Young Women callings on Mother's Day and attend Relief Society....and they all vocalize how HAPPY they are to be there!
Seriously? I used to volunteer to STAY in Primary on those days, leading the music and watching over things generally during the mass exodus of female leadership. (And don't think the various Primary presidents didn't breathe an obvious sigh of relief, knowing they wouldn't need to find a substitute male singing time leader!)
I find Relief Society very lonesome. Most of my friends are serving elsewhere, and the women who are left in Relief Society tend to be much older, or a bit crazy, or just new in the ward (and haven't been given a calling yet). I usually end up sitting alone, and it's terribly painful.
However, over the last year, Relief Society has become much more of a joy, seeing as I have finally found my "tribe" of Relief Society sister mates :-)
Between Rebecca and Ethan visiting, and Allison and Mark visiting, and having Hannie home before her mission, most third hours on Sunday were not only tolerable, but enjoyable! Someone that I love and trust has been sitting next to me, and it's been wonderful.
Nothing, though, will be as comforting as my little friend, Glo. With Glo graduating back in January, and with her frustration of never having a young woman her age (neither a year and half before or after her), she was so DONE with Young Women's. She didn't want to be, because in all honesty, she's always craved that typical Young Women's experience full of friendship and fun. But being grouped with the 12- and 13-year-old girls when you're 15 years old just isn't ideal, and she was tired of being the only one to ever volunteer in class or do anything in general.
So, we decided that she would start coming to Relief Society with me, and now that I've had a taste of sitting next to a friend during Relief Society, I'm not so sure that I'll ever be able to go back to sitting alone again.
Glo has been a delight. She saves me a seat (from the transition from Gospel Doctrine to Relief Society, and if I'm playing piano), and we share thoughts and ideas throughout the lesson. She gets to see me volunteer in class, and she has no fear to do so either. And when the lesson is over, we walk out together (instead of trying to find each other in the hall afterwards).
This is such an important part of what sisterhood is: being there for each other when times aren't exactly comfortable.
And from that, I'm seeing an even larger view of sisterhood.
Adding daughters to our family is AWESOME! There is a sweetness to our lives because of Rebecca, and we all feel as if she's been one of us forever. I'm fairly quick to criticize, but Rebecca shows me the beauty in thinking well of others. She's helpful and grateful and oh-so-flexible with our Kennedy way of life. She's showing me this greater idea of family--that it doesn't have to stay just within the core Kennedy six.
I know that women all over the world already know all of this. They work together and gain strength from one another. Unfortunately, I haven't had that example so it's a whole new world to me.
I still wouldn't mind getting called back into Primary though... :-)
A have a lot of favorite callings. Organist. Gospel Doctrine teacher. Seminary teacher. I even loved being Primary President, but it's been so long that those memories feel far away. Across the board though, leading Singing Time in Primary makes me the happiest. I love that calling, and if I could do it the rest of my life, I would!
I've now been teaching seminary for 3 1/2 years (yep, another chapter coming to an end), and I also teach Gospel Doctrine. These callings have s-t-r-e-t-ch-e-d me like no other. Holy smokes, I have learned so much, and in regular church conversation now, I can reference scriptures and other sources without the usual memory lapses of my previous non-studious scripture life. I love it, and I wonder what exactly is going to happen to my personal scripture study without being forced to study in preparation for a lesson.
As a consequence of fulfilling these callings however, I've been given the "opportunity" to attend Relief Society for several years.
This is not my favorite thing to do in the world.
At all.
In fact, my mouth hangs open in amazement when all of the women are given the chance to forego their Primary and Young Women callings on Mother's Day and attend Relief Society....and they all vocalize how HAPPY they are to be there!
Seriously? I used to volunteer to STAY in Primary on those days, leading the music and watching over things generally during the mass exodus of female leadership. (And don't think the various Primary presidents didn't breathe an obvious sigh of relief, knowing they wouldn't need to find a substitute male singing time leader!)
I find Relief Society very lonesome. Most of my friends are serving elsewhere, and the women who are left in Relief Society tend to be much older, or a bit crazy, or just new in the ward (and haven't been given a calling yet). I usually end up sitting alone, and it's terribly painful.
However, over the last year, Relief Society has become much more of a joy, seeing as I have finally found my "tribe" of Relief Society sister mates :-)
Between Rebecca and Ethan visiting, and Allison and Mark visiting, and having Hannie home before her mission, most third hours on Sunday were not only tolerable, but enjoyable! Someone that I love and trust has been sitting next to me, and it's been wonderful.
Nothing, though, will be as comforting as my little friend, Glo. With Glo graduating back in January, and with her frustration of never having a young woman her age (neither a year and half before or after her), she was so DONE with Young Women's. She didn't want to be, because in all honesty, she's always craved that typical Young Women's experience full of friendship and fun. But being grouped with the 12- and 13-year-old girls when you're 15 years old just isn't ideal, and she was tired of being the only one to ever volunteer in class or do anything in general.
So, we decided that she would start coming to Relief Society with me, and now that I've had a taste of sitting next to a friend during Relief Society, I'm not so sure that I'll ever be able to go back to sitting alone again.Glo has been a delight. She saves me a seat (from the transition from Gospel Doctrine to Relief Society, and if I'm playing piano), and we share thoughts and ideas throughout the lesson. She gets to see me volunteer in class, and she has no fear to do so either. And when the lesson is over, we walk out together (instead of trying to find each other in the hall afterwards).
This is such an important part of what sisterhood is: being there for each other when times aren't exactly comfortable.
And from that, I'm seeing an even larger view of sisterhood.
Adding daughters to our family is AWESOME! There is a sweetness to our lives because of Rebecca, and we all feel as if she's been one of us forever. I'm fairly quick to criticize, but Rebecca shows me the beauty in thinking well of others. She's helpful and grateful and oh-so-flexible with our Kennedy way of life. She's showing me this greater idea of family--that it doesn't have to stay just within the core Kennedy six.
I know that women all over the world already know all of this. They work together and gain strength from one another. Unfortunately, I haven't had that example so it's a whole new world to me.
I still wouldn't mind getting called back into Primary though... :-)
Comments
Post a Comment