Have you ever been placed in a situation that wasn't ideal and at times you even considered "wrong" but felt that you needed to submit to it and trust in the Lord? I have been going through one of those experiences....
This week my daughter and I head to Stake Girls Camp and this year I been called to serve as the Ward Camp Director. We have spent the last several months working hard on preparations to have a spiritual and positive experience. We've had a few bumps in the road though.
Most of the burden for Stake Girls Camp as fallen on the Wards. We are taking care of 8 1/2 out of 10 meals and all the certification for starters. The hard part was creating something spiritual from this overwhelming assignment: "Rewrite a Dr. Seuss book with a spiritual theme. Base all devotionals, camp site decorations, flags, cheers, Secret Ward activities and skit around your Dr. Seuss theme." Monday night's activity includes watching "Horton Hears a Who" as a stake.
This small calling has proven to be hard for me. I love the Young Women's program however. I have served in Young Women's multiple times including serving as President. I feel there is a great war on in this world and I feel my fighting gloves come on when I get put in the Young Women's program. Fighting gloves to combat evil and teach the young women about God's love for them and the great evil that prevails and seeks to destroy them and their role as wife and mother. I tend to want to disregard all the fun activities and want to focus on serving others and spiritual growth.
Anyway....I have had to humble myself exceedingly in order to fulfil assignments that are completely out of my realm of comprehension. Through this process I have felt the Lord with me. When I have felt completely overwhelmed with coming up with a cheer for a particular assignment I have felt the Lord whisper words to me. When I've been given a book that I was told to illustrate and Modge Podge around a Dr. Seuss theme that I needed to create the Lord has helped me. The Lord has provided inspiration to help me fulfill all my assignments.
I have always known and I continue to know that the Lord really is in control. He will help me through the ridiculous and provide a way to teach and testify. I am reminded that all people in all positions in the church (including myself) are mortal and imperfect. Good intentions can often end up going in the wrong direction. But the Lord has a higher plan. He knows what's going on and He will ensure that everyone learns what they need to learn and progress in whatever capacity He wants them too. One of my lessons is to learn to submit. I have to learn to submit even when I think something is ridiculous. If I learn to submit in the ridiculous than I will be that much closer to submitting in the hard and terrible things that will come in the future.
One girl approached me very distraught and said, "I don't know why I even need to go. This is so stupid. I won't learn a thing and it will be a waste of my time." I disagreed and promptly listed the following as reasons to go and participate:
- Opportunity to enrich current friendships.
- Opportunity to make new friends.
- Opportunity to serve others.
- Opportunity to reach out to those that are unnoticed and down trodden.
- Opportunity to feel the Spirit as you commune in nature and notice the beauties of the earth.
- Opportunity to obey even when we would rather not.
- Opportunity to choose happiness even in the ridiculous.
- Opportunity to learn from other's good examples.
- Opportunity to learn new skills.
- Opportunity to practice all those things we read in the scriptures about being Christ-like.
I hope that I can remember the lessons I am learning through this experience so that I can become the women that God wants me to be. I hope that these lessons can help you as you sort through situations in your life that may not be ideal.
So now I asked that you pray for me this week so that I can keep my promises to myself and to the Lord! : )
12 comments:
Such a beautiful post, and one I particularly needed to read today. (See my post on my blog today, and you will know why your post helped me so much!) Staying positive has not been easy for me lately. That makes me sad, because I am normally a pretty upbeat girl! But I know that Heavenly Father can see what I can't see, and that if I trust Him, things will be alright! Now, if I could just figure out which things in life (out of too many to count) are the MOST important, so I could let everything else drop off of my plate! That would be fantastic! :D) Hope camp is AWESOME!
My two oldest are headed to Girls' Camp this week too. Their camp theme is "Be strong..It's a Jungle Out There." Not too bad and their skit is even really good! I am impressed with their camp leader's ideas to keep within the theme but still make it better than just the "cutesy" stuff. I imagine you have done the same with what you have been asked to do. Good luck!
I've had my share of "staying positive" as we are moved from place to place and face all sorts of wacky military stuff. It is very hard sometimes, but there is peace if you trust in the Lord. Thank you for this reminder as I've started to grumble a bit about my lot in life. Looks like I need to pray some more and find out what I'm supposed to learn.
Praying for you and the girls!
Thanks for posting that! The Lord can work with anything, can't He? What a great example you are to me--I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Just a post script--you may want to make sure your stake has permission to show a movie...I am pretty sure it is against church policy to show movies as an activity without express permission from the studio--in the case of Horton Hears A Who, it would be Blue Sky Studios.
This is because it is actually against U.S. law to show a movie to a group of people without express permission of those who have made it.
Just a heads up!
I am up this early, helping my daughter with some medical issues, and thought I would check my blog before I went back to bed. (Doesn't everyone get on their computer at 3 A.M.? ) :0) Anyway, your post about choosing happiness, is truly inspired. What an honor, to have Heber C. Kimball as a great grandfather. Having been reading The Work and the Glory, I have such a love for him and his role in the early days of the church. I SO needed to read what you wrote about choosing to be happy amidst the daily chaos that is motherhood sometimes. Thank you for taking the time to recommend it to me, and thank you for understanding and for being a good example to me! That is such a wonderful post, you wrote. :D)
Misty-It is very much against the law to show the movie. That is one of the many frustrating things about this coming week. : )
I think we can all relate to your feelings/experiences in one way or another! It is great that you are taking the opportunities and using them to grow. Have fun at camp and I will say a prayer for your success and sanity! lol
Good luck this week! I have had the same challenges with being in the Young Women's (and even the Relief Society) program. It is refreshing to know someone else struggles with the absurdity of some of the things for themes and all that. Not to mention how people always try to get away with doing things "in the spirit of the law". I don't know if you hear that where you are, but I hear it all the time and it irks me.
One year my Relief Society wanted to have an activity going to see "Twilight" at the midnight showing. I was the RS Secretary. The entire presidency was all for it and I had a small fit. I said, "How does this bring us closer to God?" Finally, they turned it into a private event and not a church sanctioned one. I always feel like the wet blanket, but then maybe that's WHY I'm called to that position at that time.
Maybe YOU are there "for such a time as this", to keep things grounded and provide a spiritual camp for these YW.
A timely post, thank you :)
I'll keep you and all the girls in my thoughts and prayers.
Have a wonderful week full of many blessings.
You are a good example to me too. Have a good week and let us know how it goes.
You are all very kind. We made if home and all is well. I am doing much better from my brain fog after a four hour nap this morning.
I did have some spiritual experiences that I would not have had if I had not humbled myself. I was able to teach and testify. I was able to lift the down trodden. I was able to be a friend. How blessed I am.
I am sure that I will be sharing some of my general thoughts in the upcoming posts.
Post a Comment