1148. How President Nelson's example teaches us to never turn down callings -- by "mylifebygogogoff!"

Just a note to you dear friends!  I will be leaving tomorrow morning, July 13, 2019, to go on a 16 day tour.  We will visit Ireland, Scotland, and England mostly.  But we will go on for 2 days in France, and then 2 days down to Rome, where we will be doing a Temple session on Saturday July 27th, in the Rome Temple!  I am so excited!  I'll write about it after July 29th.

I had my DNA done, and I'm 79% British, and 13% Irish and Scottish.  The other 6% is from Germany, and 2% from Norway.  So I'm going to the land of my fore-fathers!  My husband Wayne's mother also had many British ancestors, so I'll be watching for places they lived in the past!  I'm excited!

Recently I was sitting in a Stake Priesthood Leadership meeting while my Stake President called us to repentance over how we approached callings. President Dallin is relatively new and told us that he would like to share a story that he was told when he was called to be a Stake President, the story goes as follows:

In 1964, then Elder’s Spencer W. Kimball and LeGrand Richards of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were reorganizing a Stake Presidency in Salt Lake City. As usual, they met with various Stake leaders asking for recommendations on who to interview to be the next Stake President. Repeatedly the name ‘Russell M. Nelson’ came up, but repeatedly they were also told, “But he is too busy with his work.” or “He is at the height of his career being a heart surgeon.” So they passed by him. 

But Elder’s Kimball and Richards kept feeling like they needed to interview Russell M. Nelson and that he should be the Stake President. So they called him into the office and they explained that they knew who he was and that he was in the height of his career as a heart surgeon, and if he was too busy they understood. And within that context, they asked him if he would be willing to serve as the Stake President. Russell M. Nelson replied, “I already made this decision in 1945 when I was endowed. I will keep my covenants to consecrate my time and talents unto the Lord. If I need to find a new career to serve, I will.”

As President Dallin relayed that story the Spirit was so strong it was almost palpable. And a thought came racing into my mind, “The call to serve is merely your Judge in Israel asking if you will honor your covenants.” It was followed by a quote from Elder Robert C. Gay from another Stake Conference when he said, “Life is ultimately the choice about whether you are going to live by covenant or convenience.”

President Dallin went on to talk about the excuses we make as to why we can’t serve, or when we do agree to serve, why we too often put in minimal efforts. He said, “Of course your job, family, and hobbies are important, but if they become more important than our covenants, that is when we have our priorities mixed up. At the end of the meeting, he then posed the question, “Are we truly keeping our covenants if we do the minimum? Brethren, we can, and must, do more. ”

I loved this story as it rebuttals a cultural issue we have within the Church, namely where we believe the call to serve should be convenient. We think that if it conflicts with work, school, hobbies, or takes one away from their family, aka building our kingdom, then we are justified in turning down the call to keep our covenants to build His Kingdom.

Callings are rarely convenient. I think of Brigham Young and Heber C Kimball being called as missionaries to England, they were called to leave their sick families and build His Kingdom. Did they rationalize why they could not keep their covenants? No! And they had more valid ‘excuses’ than any of us will ever have; they were deathly sick, their wives were deathly ill, their kids were deathly ill, who would provide for their families? They were walking away from their jobs, and they might even die on the journey! But instead, they kept their covenants. Not only did they keep their covenants they decided that they wanted to give their wives a cheer and so as they were being carried out on wagons they rose to their feet and yelled, “Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah For Israel!” And their wives came to the door so that each other last sight was of the other standing rather than lying sick in bed.

Let us follow the example of the faithful and live by covenant rather than convenience. In the words of President Ballard, “Opportunities to serve others in meaningful ways, as we have covenanted to do, rarely come at convenient times. But there is no spiritual power in living by convenience. The power comes as we keep our covenants.”
M. Russell Ballard, April 1999.

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