My Place

It's fall and evenings are blustery.  Some rain.  Wet leaves.  Chilly.  Desire to read a good book .  Stay in and be cozy and comfy.  No can do!!!

It was the annual Stake High Priest dinner program.  The HP, wives, widows, all single adult women are invited.  The male planned meal is a great attempt but I've never had a moment of...do you share your recipe?  Appreciated meal though as the men cook, serve, and clean up.  I saw some of the chef's wives helping out a bit.

I chuckled when a HP, in charge of some kitchen detail, walked out and asked for-- attention!, room was quiet and he asked...does anyone here want more salad?  Looked around and said...didn't want to open a new bag if no one would eat it.  I liked his practical nature!

Some at our table wanted to skip the program and just go home.  I asked how many hadn't really wanted to come to the event and all hands shot up.  I asked how many wished, now that they had eaten, if they could go home.  100%, readying car keys.

HP sometimes drone on a bit and sometimes take a bit/a lot more than their allotted time.  The table renegades professed love/admiration etc. for those scheduled on program but....

I said we have to stay.  We sustained these people.  They need our support.  More important than anything is the fact that this is our test to endure to the end. We laughed at my halo buffing but actually I really meant it.

When you are younger, super busy with your young family, very active in the Church you attend so many events.  You are either in charge of a major part of something or responsible for the whole shebang.  Your children might have speaking parts or you might be helping chaperone or even lining up transportation for some Ward extravaganza or Temple trip or even a Stake event might end up on your plate to take charge of.

There are all sorts of bits and pieces, that are a puzzle piece of the whole puzzle, in making sure our Ward has the full Church program.  It's hectic and many times overwhelming and difficult and stressful but somehow or other it must be done and it does get done.  You catch your breath and ready yourself for the next assignment.

In the past I thought that was so much work/responsibility to put on the busy younger members of our Ward.  It wasn't fair.  They already had more on their plate than they can handle.  Now I feel different.  Those very responsibilities are what get the entire family to Church on Sundays and the other days of the weeks special events!  True at times, wisdom is needed, when a harried woman is at her wit's end and needs a respite of sorts but even then, the load is lightened but not ever totally removed.

This massive effort that women put forth is actually crucial to their spiritual growth and deepness and conviction of testimony for themselves and their families.  Those responsibilities, that are so all encompassing to the success of our Ward, build a foundation of testimony that plays out as you age.

Eventually it's about CTR!  Attending meetings when, truth be told, you'd like to slip on your robe, cuddle up and read BUT the right thing to choose is go to things when you have absolutely no responsibility.  None.  and way down inside no real desire or interest in the happenings.

It's a test.  Enduring.  ...Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. (2 Nephi 31:21)

I was talking to a sister in a different Ward and she said that she felt no need to go to RS monthly meetings where they have socials, teach skills, share recipes etc. etc.  She said that she knows what she needs for her life and it's a waste of her time to go.  She'd rather be home.  She doesn't need it.  She is 75. She prayed about it and felt prompted that it wasn't about her learning.  It was about her supporting the young RS members, the current ones.  Setting an example of the importance of attending meetings that have been planned.  supporting others.  She now attends with that in mind.

There have been many times I have wanted to not attend something but I have always ended up feeling the Spirit, glad I went, and my life has been blessed.  Even at HP events where there is sometimes that droning or those perhaps in love with the sound of their voice or suddenly remembering another story that fits in with the assigned topic or maybe changing the topic, my life is blessed for the effort.  

I was blessed that evening for choosing the short trek from cultural hall to chapel and not veering left and out the door to the parking lot after the meal.  

By literally choosing the right turn coming down the hall....the end and amazing result to me was 3 and perhaps 4 of the 6 of us are now motivated to trying to climb our own Family Tree.  The Spirit was strong.  Feeling tears, momentarily surface but not trickle, let me know this is the place.

The place for me.