Monday, November 19, 2007

A wake up call!

"So often in life a deserved blessing is quickly followed by a needed stretching...Even routine, daily life provides sufficient sandpaper to smooth our crustiness and polish our rough edges, if we are meek." Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, Apr 1997, 7

I had to laugh when I received this gem!! I think there are more than just one or two of us right now who are feeling like we're getting a great opportunity to be stretched and polished!!

I got to thinking about how self-centered I can be and I am pretty ashamed!! It seems like ever since I heard I was being called as RS President all I could focus on was myself- how am I ever going to do this? how am I ever going to overcome my fears? everyone should feel sorry for me because I'm not ready for this. The list could go on and on! And then it dawned on me- I'm not the first person that's been called to a position that required tremendous courage and growth! I'm not the only one being challenged and tried! I'm not even the only one getting a new calling! (Duh!!) I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father pulls me out of myself and makes me take a look around and see what other people are going through and reminds me that I'm not the only human in existence!!

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to congratulate me and has shown such tremendous love and support. You are all such a strength to me and I love each and every one of you!

5 comments:

ANTSYLLI said...

"Even routine, daily life provides sufficient sandpaper to smooth our crustiness and polish our rough edges, if we are meek." Get ready to Bling! I am thrilled for your new presidency. Please know that you are in my prayers and that I will do whatever you need. BTW... I love this quote. Thanks for sharing.

Mama D said...

It seems to be a natural reaction to be "me" centered for a while when receiving such a huge change in our lives. I believe Heavenly Father knows when it's time to nudge us to start paying attention to others and realize we aren't alone in our challenges or fears! Everyone has something... Whether it's a new calling or a release (equally challenging), or a family or work problem, or... One of life's great lessons is to learn love, compassion, and empathy so that we can look past ourselves to help others.

Your presidency will do a great job. You have an entire ward family praying for you and willing to stand behind you!

Papa D said...

Of all your profound and insightful posts, this one just might be at the top. This calling is not about helping you grow; that will happen naturally as a result of what you have to do. It will happen exponentially, however, if you focus on helping others grow and learn to forget about your own growth *in the calling*. (Growth outside the calling is still an area that requires focus.)

Louann and Bari said...

I keep going back to Leslie's comments on Sunday. We're all just rocks. Didn't it take 16 rocks for Jared to complete his task? He couldn't do it alone, -the Lord's help (finger) was needed. And he needed more than one stone to accomplish what the Lord was asking him to do. Let's see- Pres., 2 Couns., 1 Sec., ----How many teachers, committee members? VT'ers? Wow--the Lord needs us all. BUT---only one can lead the rest. One President with responcibilities to work with all the others for a cohesive ward RS.
Love You !!!!

Leslie said...

Wow! I really like how LouAnn expanded on my thought. That gave me more insight! Patty, I love you! I have no doubt that the Lord is so excited to have you in th is calling. You have such a big, intuitive heart. Your service will bless many lives!

When I was called as Primary President, I spent some time at the beginning dwelling on all of my short-comings, and all of the reasons why I wouldn't be very good at it. Then, I realized that none of that was news to the Lord. He knew who I was when He called me. For me, that realization was very freeing. I felt free to let go of those thoughts, and to just go forward, doing the best I could. One example for me was (and many of you can attest to this) I stink at communicating via phone. I have serious, unexplainable issues surrounding calling people on the phone. One time when I needed to communicate, I was dreading the calls. Then, I remembered that the Lord knew this about me, and that I happen to have a strength in communicating via writing. So, I used my strength to communicate instead, and it all worked out.

Sorry for such a long comment.