something spiritual for the sabbath

i want to try something new. i would like to post something every sunday that is spiritual. maybe it will be a reflection on what happened at church. maybe something matt or i have read recently that is provoking. maybe just an onslaught of thoughts. regardless, faith, religion, and our relationship to our Heavenly Father is the central part of our life and marriage. it's sometimes a scary thing to talk about. so this is where i want to start, in an open and safe place. take it or leave it, but i hope you take it. if for no other reason, just to learn a little more about us and perhaps to gain a better understanding of "mormons".

todays topic: callings. magnifying them and what they are. so here are the facts.
1. in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (from here on out referred to as the LDS church) we do not have any paid ministry.
2. due to this, everyone in the church offers service.
3. we do not pick where or how we serve.
4. we are called, literally, by our bishop (the man in charge of our congregation), to do something. he has prayed and received inspiration as to what it is that we should be doing. so really, we are called of God through our bishop.

i currently hold two callings.
1: organist
2: 12-13 year old sunday school teacher

matt is currently the second counselor in the young mens, which means he is the leader of the 12-13 year old boys.

magnifying our callings, or performing your calling to the best of your ability and in the way the Lord wants you to, is a topic that has particularly been on matt's mind lately. he is such a busy man. he is a grad assistant for the carolina bands, which requires a lot. he is a full time grad student, which requires a lot. he is preparing for a conducting recital, which requires a lot. but above all of this, lately, he has felt the urgency and desire to magnify his calling. he has come to a true realization of the importance and impact he has in these young men's lives. he understands that this is the time you get them or you loose them. he puts in time everyday for these boys. it may be praying for them. it may be preparing a lesson. but everyday they are on his mind. he told me tonight, when he got home from a leadership training meeting at church, that he feels like he is being tugged in two very different directions. one side is school work and the world. there is a lot of pressure on him at school and the level of expectation on him this year is drastically higher than it was in his first year as a masters student. everyone wants to know where he wants to go in his career. the other thing pulling the other way is the church and his calling. and although to so many, they could never understand, that is the side he wants to go with and try to follow. it doesn't give us many earthy rewards in the eyes of man, but the blessings and eternal rewards are unmeasurable and incomparable to anything a career could provide us with.

i'm inspired by matt's dedication. i know that it's all a balancing act. we must learn do what is necessary to survive in this short time we have on earth while giving all we can to the Lord. it doesn't mean we give up everything. it means we must find a way in everything we do to serve the Lord.

i know these thoughts may appear a little random. like i said in the beginning, it's hard to talk about these things. they seem so personal and while they are, they are meant to be shared. they need to be shared. i hope someone learns something or is inspired in some way from reading this. i know it helps me to be better just to get it all down in words.