See - this Mormon calling thing pays off.

If you are Mormon - you understand the word, "calling" in a different sense than those who work for AT&T.  In our church, a "calling" is a churchy job that you do with no promised recompense or reward (other than heavenly, I hope.)

Mormons expect a lot of their volunteers.  Our church has no paid ministry, and you'd think we'd all be a wreck on Sundays, unable to function well. Instead, we are a streamlined, well-oiled, highly trained machine.  It's amazing to see in action.  Each member does some job and in turn, an entire congregation functions on Sundays - as well as during the week. Volunteers are running Cub Scout packs, playing the organ on Sunday, cleaning meetinghouses, paying church bills, counseling people, teaching folks English and gardening and how to budget. You name it - Mormons probably have a calling for it.  

For the past long while, I've had callings in my church.  I serve others because I feel, in doing so, I am serving the Lord. Poor Lord - I am not always the best servant.  Sometimes, a calling is overwhelming and more often than not, I am ill-equipped to meet the challenges ahead of me. I have been blessed with excellent counselors and friends (and internet pals) who have listened to me, brainstormed with me, and helped me not be an idiot nearly as much as I would otherwise have proven.  Still, I'd say I fail more than half the time.  And I'm not being gracious there - I've had a boat load of failures.  

Often, I think to myself, "Please!  Let me not have to do this anymore so I can focus on other things for a while/so I can be less embarrassed of my shortcomings/so I can take a nap."

By often, I mean

uhhh

usually.  Usually, like, every day.  

Multiple times a day.

Today is a little different though. Today, I am humbled and thankful to have the opportunity to serve in my church.

A year ago today, I sat in a meeting hearing that 3.0 was developmentally delayed, had speech, communication, and comprehension issues, and frankly, she was waaaaay behind on the curvy racetrack that is life.  I had tried multiple times to have her evaluated and had been dismissed. It took a lot of perseverance for me to find someone who would listen to my plea for help with her. I KNEW what kids her age should be doing because I had a calling working with children every Sunday in 8 different congregations. I was with children her age every week for several years - and between training, manuals I'd reviewed, teaching curricula, and raising my own chil'uns, I knew developmentally, 3.0 was a little different.  But it took a lot to find someone to listen.

A year ago today, listening to the suddenly grim prognosis, I sat there thinking, "THIS SUCKS! My kid should have had help sooner - but no one would listen. I don't have time for a kid who has issues because I'm too busy helping everyone else. I don't have time to bathe - much less do therapies!"

If there was ever a time I didn't want a calling - it was then. I wanted to just focus on my family and not serve anyone but 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 - and maybe Mr. Mormon, if I felt like it that day.  :)

But today - a year later, I sat in another meeting hearing how well 3.0 is doing. I left with an excellent IEP that will allow her to have all the services she needs next year...and will allow us to discontinue some she has grown out of already.  I sat there today thinking, "Thank you for my calling!  Thanks for helping me become an expert in little kids.  Thank you for taking my very meager, humble, never-enough-service to others and using it to save my angel from confusion and misery.  Thank you for helping me know how to help my family."

As we serve others - we can only better ourselves and grow.  Even in our mistakes - we learn what to neeeeeeever ever try again (ask my mom about her taking a crazy lady to lunch trying to be a friend. he he heeeee - but see Mom - it was a learning experience - you now know to ignore the crazies.) As I sit here watching 3.0 struggle with making her Christmas card thank you notes and telling me, "Are they gone be so love it?", I know her communication skills still aren't perfect (nor is my thank-you-note-timeliness - but come on - better late than never!) She still doesn't count to 20 or know how to make her letters. She can't conjugate a verb or use a personal pronoun and prepositions bewilder her. 

But I know where she should be headed and what else I can do to help. And I know that when we were down to the wire and I needed help and someone to listen about 3.0's plight and I could find no one, I was blessed in a most surprising way with just the right help I needed.  And I know I will be blessed again.

I am grateful to all the folks who serve me every week - from bringing bread for the sacrament, to making copies to speaking to us on Sunday. I'm especially grateful to the people who provided ME with such excellent early childhood education training and who let me learn and experiment with their children every week. Without that, who knows where we would be today. A big fat thank you to all the nursery workers who needed training from me and to the others who didn't show up week after week - allowing me to become a nursery aficionado!

So I keep on serving. I don't serve that well all the time - but hopefully, I serve enough that others' lives aren't quite so dreary. Because today, as I look at my own life, it's not nearly as dreary as, a year ago, we had expected it to be.  

WOOHOO!

The blessings of THE CALLING

I do love my calling as Relief Society President. That might not always show.  I don't always love every little bit of the job, but I love the sisters a ton and I feel like I have the capacity to be a better person when this is all said and done.

Yesterday, I was telling Mr. Mormon some of the blessings that I've noticed from doing this job.  I decided I should record them somewhere so that when it seems tough, I can reflect on some of the goodness.

A few of the many blessings

1.  I have some seriously spooky discernment right now. Well, it should probably not be called "spooky" - I guess it's more "divinely inspired." More than once, months before an event happened, I have told Mr. Mormon what I felt would take place down the road. And these were very random, out of the ordinary, no-guessing-it-in-advance types of events.  I had no reason to suspect anything wonky was about to happen with these individuals. But Heavenly Father gave me a heads up and it made me much more calm in addressing the situation.  I (hope) instead of arriving to them in a state of shock, I've been able to address these sisters in a peaceful and level-headed way.  

2.  I now seem to have more hours in my day than any other person I know. It's been wild and I've commented on it many times to Mr. Mormon - and thought I'd share it here.  In the evening, when I review my days in my head, even I am sometimes shocked by all that was done in just short periods of time.

Yesterday, I had a Presidency meeting in the morning, took 3.0 to school, and found myself with one hour and 5 minutes free, if you counted the travel time to and from the school in that. 

Here's all that I did in that time.

1.  (From the school) called Mr. Mormon to check on a time for dinner

2.  Called the C-Dawg to confirm said dinner. Chit chatted because I LOVE CHERYLYN!

3.  Went home to get my recipe book - decided on dinner.

4.  Went to Publix to buy dinner.

5.  Came home - seasoned and browned roast.

6. Put all the groceries away.

7.  Finished the roast prep

8. Tidied the downstairs and cleaned the bathroom

9.  Tackled the very destroyed post-meeting playroom.

10. Threw a load of laundry in - folded a load.

11.  Called to check in on 2 sisters 

12.  Returned some emails

13. Re-made 3.0's bed and cleaned the upstairs bathroom.

14.   Raced out the door exactly on time to get 3.0 from school.

PHEW!

Another day, I remember needing to get a food order done but only having about an hour and  a half free.  Cherylyn and I dreamed up a plan and she took 2.0 and 3.0 for me - I drove the 15 minutes to the order, talked to the sister about nutrition, made a meal plan, completed the order, and came back to Cherylyn's and was done ahead of schedule.  It's like extra minutes have been added to my day.  I couldn't be more grateful!

3.  Getting to know the sisters has been a blessing and a half. I feel like I have 70 new best friends.  I walked into a birthday party of a neighbor and there were 2 of my Relief Society homeys.  (None of us knew the others were invited.)  Someone asked how we all knew each other and one of my friends said she knew one of the gals from church and said about me, "This is one of my best friends."

Prior to this calling, this girl and I were always friendly, but in light of this calling, we've had a lot more opportunities to be together and she's shared a lot about her life and her struggles with me.  It was a complete honor and a humbling experience to be called one of her best friends.

Additionally, because of this calling, I got to fall in love with Cherylyn and her darling family.  She has been a wonderful counselor who has told me the truth when it needed to be said and has been such a good, good friend and partner in crime, I mean, righteousness.  This calling has blessed me to make friends who will strengthen me forever.

4.  Perspective. Oh boy do I have a better perspective of life and what constitutes a trial now.  I thought I knew.  Now I know.

5.  I have always loved women and what women are able to accomplish. I'm so proud to be a wife, mother, and a woman. And I'm insanely impressed with what the women in my ward are able to accomplish. 

For almost 15 days, we needed babysitting for one family while one of their children was in the hospital and we had another sister moving (with her 3 kids) who needed her home cleaned and a lot of extra help (there is no dad in the picture there.) Then there was a third girl who needed babysitting and rides to and from school for 3 days. All of that was happening at the same time!

And the women of my ward did all of that - and they did extra!  They'd babysit for someone - and then bring them dinner for that night, as well.  One woman just called up another and insisted on cleaning some of her home. These gals will regularly phone to tell me they have some extra time that week if I need anything special done for anyone. The charity and compassion and industry of women continues to amaze me!

6.  I have known peace more greatly these past few months.  I think feeling peace is something you appreciate during a trial and then, as time passes, you forget what you enjoyed.  The roller coaster that is sharing with these women offers a lot of opportunities to plead for peace and to witness it in their lives.

It has been a (huge) blessing to me to not feel stressed or overwhelmed or scared by some of these women's trials.  Those feelings would have kept me from serving most effectively.

So - those are some of the blessings I've been noticing.  I appreciate that I have such a supportive family and I am able to serve right now.  Someday, I still hope to have a BIG FAT BREAK, but right now, I can't think of any place in the ward I'd rather be.