Callings? What's that?

Mormons are often heard to mention their callings. 
What are they talking about? 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is very large, and growing.  We are divided into groups according to the region in which we live.  The 2 most common groups are wards and stakes.  A ward is a group of the membership living within a particular boundary.  A group of wards within the boundaries of a larger area are called a stake.  We attend a ward based on the boundary (invisible lines on a map) in which we live.  My ward is called the Cannon Creek Ward.  My stake is the Lake City FL Stake.  This division creates the need for leadership in each ward and stake.  We have no paid clergy, instead the members give voluntary service under the direction of the Bishop of each ward, who works under the direction of the Stake President of each stake.   

These wards and stakes have need of people to fulfill responsibilities in many different areas.  We are organized into a number of priesthood quorums and auxiliary programs.  The basic organization of each ward is: Bishop, 1st and 2nd counselors, and executive secretary. Under the direction of this group, which we call a bishopric are the following priesthood quorums: High Priests, Elders, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons groups. And the following womens' groups are: Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary.  Each group has a president, a 1st and 2nd counselor and a secretary.  Each of these has various teaching positions within the organization.  These groups are not usually comprised of just the presidency.  The teachers serving within an organization does so under the direction of that organizations presidency and each presidency serves under the direction of the bishopric.  The members are "called" to different organizations according to the will of God and through authority given to the bishop and his counselors.  The names of those to call to the various positions are sought through prayer.  In this way, we are called by God through His servants, and asked to give voluntary service in a given position for a period of time.  These are not lifetime callings.  Nor do they have any specific time limitations.  Through prayer, we will be asked to do many different things and are free at any time to say no.  Most members will accept callings because we believe they come from the Lord and we have a desire to serve Him in whatever capacity He chooses. 

At this time, I serve in the position of Young Women President of the Cannon Creek Ward of the Lake City Fl Stake.  I have a counterpart in each ward in my stake and we serve under the direction of a Stake Young Women President.  She serves under the direction of the Stake President. 

In Doctrine and Covenants 88:119 (a modern book of scripture) we read, 'Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.' (Bold Italics are mine).  With a membership as large as ours, it would be quite easy to become disorganized and chaotic.  Through prayer and revelation, we have been given the perfect organization through which to run the programs of the church.  Each presidency serves under the direction of another (and each of a larger and larger group in a given area) until we reach the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  And this First Presidency serves under the direction of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  At this time the First Presidency is comprised of the following members: President Thomas S. Monson (president); President Henry B. Eyring (1st counselor); and President Deiter F. Uchtdorf (2nd counselor). 

In this way the members have been given the opportunity to develop leadership skills in various situations and circumstances.  We learn and grow in ways we may not have otherwise.  We certainly feel our inadequacies when faced with something new and foreign to our experience, but when we choose to serve, and do our very best, we feel ourselves lifted by God to become equal to the responsibility we've been given.  This has certainly been true for me.  I'm so grateful for the opportunities I've been given to serve.  I often fall short and feel myself weak, but have been made strong through these opportunities.  It is definitely work!  These callings can take up tremendous amounts of our time.  There have been times when a particular has seemed a little overwhelming, but I have been blessed in so many ways and have always felt God's love when I do my very best. 

Why do mormons have large families?

Ever see someone with a lot of kids and ask "Are you mormon?"  Why do we tend to have large families? 

In Genesis 1:28 we read 'And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it...'   There is more, but this portion of the scripture is what I wish to focus on in this post. 

This a commandment for Adam and Eve to have children.  We believe that God is the literal father of our spirits.  He sent us to earth for several reasons.  One of which is to gain a body.  This body is for our benefit (we'll develop this thought in a later post) and every spirit needs one.  For this purpose, we are to have children, to provide physical tabernacles for those spirits.  We are set up in family units by God in His wisdom.  We know that family provides the greatest source of happiness and joy.  2 Nephi 2:25 (from the Book of Mormon) reads in part, '....and men are, that they might have joy.'  He wants us to experience this joy. 

One of my personal favorite things about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (mormon church) is that we are always counseled to know for ourselves.  Our leaders encourage us to pray to our father and seek His will and His answers to our questions.  No one will ever tell us how many children each family should have.  It's a choice left up to the couple, and together they decide for themselves, always seeking to know what God would have them do. 

In 1995, President Gordon B Hinckley presented The Family: A Proclamation To The World (read it in full here here) The 4th paragraph reads, "The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife."  (bold italics are mine)  This is a commandment given not only to Adam and Eve, but to all men!  How we fulfill it is to be determined between each couple and God and no one else. 

This is such a beautiful commandment and one I love so much.  My husband and I have 8 children.  We have many friends and family members and the numbers of children vary widely from family to family.  Some have many, some have 1 or 2, and some have none at all.  The particular number of children that we have is very personal and may be limited by personal revelation, poor health, fertility issues, etc.  We do not judge others as no one can know the personal experiences of another.  I am so thankful for the blessing my children are to me and I know my friends and family are also, whether their families are large or small.   

Sabbath Day

When I was a kid, my best friend and I built a fort.  We would sneak off there to hide from her little sister (who probably didn’t want to play with us anyway!) and play for hours.  We built an extensive security system, using rope from her dad’s shed, to keep intruders out.  We did it because this was OUR place.  It was special.  We worked hard to get it exactly like we wanted it and we wanted to be sure that anyone who came in would treat it the same way we did.   I make this reference as a simple metaphor for what keeping the Sabbath Day holy should mean to all of us.  It’s a day set aside by the Lord as His.  It’s special to God, just as my fort was to me.  He expects us to treat this day the same way that He treated it. 

Exodus 20:8-11   
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

We live in a busy world.  With the advent of the cell phone we have become reachable by most anyone anytime.  Our lives are moving at record paces.  We need to take the time to slow down and allow ourselves the opportunity to reconnect with God.  And we need to do it often.  We need to do it weekly.  The Lord has given us the Sabbath Day as an opportunity to keep His commandments.  When we do, our lives are blessed.  I’ve never regretted spending time on Sunday to do His will.  To attend my church meetings, fulfill my calling, visit the sick, study my scriptures, spend time with my family, serve others, etc.  In contrast, during the times in my life when I’ve kept this commandment less consistently I have felt the absence of those blessings.  Not because God didn’t want to give them to me, but because I wasn’t ready to receive them. 

We have the 6 days prior to do the work of the world.  The needful, temporal things to take care of our families, our jobs, our homes, our social activities.  The 7^th is given to us for our benefit and we have been commanded to keep it holy.  As we do, we receive blessings and the opportunity for God to work through us to bless the lives of others.  But the Sabbath Day is much more than just physical rest.  President Spencer W. Kimball (a modern prophet) said:

“The Sabbath is a holy day in which to do worthy and holy things. Abstinence from work and recreation is important but insufficient. The Sabbath calls for constructive thoughts and acts, and if one merely lounges about doing nothing on the Sabbath, he is breaking it. To observe it, one will be on his knees in prayer, preparing lessons, studying the gospel, meditating, visiting the ill and distressed, sleeping, reading wholesome material, and attending all the meetings of that day to which he is expected. To fail to do these proper things is a transgression on the omission side.” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969, pp. 96–97.) 

We abstain from shopping so that we don’t contribute to the impossibility of another to observe this holy day, and we use it instead to do holy things.  I have learned for myself that when I follow the spirit and letter of this law, I have more time during the rest of the week to do the needful things I mentioned above.  I promise that if you too will commit to keep this commandment you will begin have a similar experience and your lives will be blessed with a closer relationship with God. 

Mormons.....

Mormons.
Who are they? 
What do they believe?
Why do they believe it?
What if I want to learn more?

These are just a few of the questions that we answer here.  In a world where information is key, we seek to add to the conversation with elements of humour, honesty, and truth.  Mormons are real, everyday people living real, everyday lives.  We are members of a church that is growing all over the world.  In many cases, we live right next door.  In other words, we are your mormon neighbors!  We welcome questions and comments and will do our very best to answer them all.  So pull up a chair and stay a while!