Service to the Family

These last two weeks of intermittent blogging have been temporarily overtaken (and lovingly sponsored) by “Service to the Family.”

I say that with a complete recognition that there are things – and perhaps many things at that – that can easily be dropped and/or superseded because of family.

For me, blogging is one of the things I can – and must drop – when it comes to putting family f.i.r.s.t.

Blogging for me is (thankfully) NOT an obsession. It is more a hobby.

But on my priority list, hobbies always come after doing the things that are more/most important.

Which reminded me of what the Lord taught me some years ago:

We had recently moved into a new ward.

But this new ward was more than just a new ward for us!

It was a new ward for everyone involved!

We moved into a brand new subdivision! And on a weekly basis new ward members were moving in!

This new ward meant reaching out to a new move-ins when being “four-weeks old” in the ward meant we were numbered as one of the “old-timers.”

It meant exerting super-extra energy to meet people, make friends and establish relationships.

It also came when I was a B.I.G. six months pregnant with twins, our oldest being 16 months old.

I was gradually beginning to see some of my limitations, and quite frankly, they intimidated me.

Because I am a “Go and Do” kind of woman . . . and all of a sudden all these physical and mental restrictions were inhibiting the “Go” in me.

But it was then, in those moments of personal weakness that the Lord found fit to teach me about “Service to the Family.”

It was during Relief Society when an inspired instructor verbalized what the Spirit needed me to hear, to learn, to live: “There will be times when you will be unable to render service to others. Sometimes the only “outward” service you may be able to perform will be within the walls of your own home. And that will be sufficient enough for the Lord.”

I remember being filled with emotion, wondering how could my service in my home to my family be enough?

Oh silly, naïve me.

Little did I know then, that in a few short 13 months from then, my husband would be called as the Bishop of a brand new ward.

But by then, and subsequently through my husband’s Church calling, the Spirit would remind me of that one moment in Relief Society.

It was not only okay – but imperative – to serve first my family, even if that meant letting go of my hobbies, my agenda - sometimes momentarily and sometimes permanently.

I confess, it hasn’t always been easy.

And I haven’t always had a happy attitude about it.

But the Lord, who does loves me, still continues to teach me about my “Service to the Family.”

Thus the past two weeks!