Today is the first day of November. I woke up with Mom and Dad on my mind. Today is their 44th wedding anniversary. My emotions have been super close to the surface lately. My heart is starting to ache for my dad. But my heart positively broke for my mom today. I hope she made it through the day. I know she is so busy helping Joni's family (Jaron is home from the hospital) that she hardly has a moment to think of herself. But when I texted her to send my love, she responded that she felt so loved, and that Dad already gave her the best gift ever: all of us. She said that she knew her marriage was eternal, and for that, she is so very grateful.
The other night, Greg and I sat in bed going over our favorite subject: our children. We were talking about how to help them, how to teach them, what to teach them, what kinds of things they might need, etc. We started to go over the next few months' schedule. It is getting close to basketball season, so we discussed who would play, who would coach, which leagues to join for which kids, and so on. I once again expressed a wish that we owned our own gym! And then I flippantly said, "I'm going to schedule an appointment with the Bishop! We need a church key! Just because we don't have big callings right now doesn't mean we can't be trusted with a key!" Greg laughed. And then he told me that the Bishop probably doesn't have extra keys. So then I said, "Well, then, I'll ask him to give me a calling that gets a key." Greg agreed that having a key would be super helpful. But we certainly didn't need to go asking for a big church job.
We settled back into our pillows. I thought about the four batches of brownies I needed to make in the morning for the teacher appreciation dinner at the middle school. I thought about the pile of artwork I needed to get judged and submitted for the Reflections contest I was wrapping up. I thought about our crazy upcoming schedule with club volleyball starting, club basketball, school basketball, city basketball, and indoor track. I thought about the hours of math homework I've been helping with, and I sighed. This is the life I love.
I kid you not, the next morning while I was working at my desk in the kitchen, my phone rang. It was the ward executive secretary. He asked me if I could meet with the Bishop on Wednesday night. I was a little stunned. Then he asked me to bring Greg with me. Now I was double stunned. I agreed and hung up the phone. I sat there, heart pounding, feeling super surprised.
I texted Greg. "I might be getting that church key," I wrote. Then I spent the next few days thinking and worrying about my appointment with the Bishop.
But whenever I would think about it, my heart would burn within my chest. Tears would spring to my eyes. And I felt this overwhelming feeling of love. I knew that I was about to be called as the Relief Society president in our ward. I just absolutely knew it.
By the time Greg got home from work, I had dinner ready, the house cleaned, and I was showered and dressed in my church clothes. I was a bundle of nervousness. I tried to distract myself with the dinner--grilled chicken and baked potatoes--and I cleaned it all up, too, while the kids worked on homework or just relaxed. I couldn't relax.
Finally, Greg and I walked into the church, holding hands. I kept asking myself, could it be something else? But when we were welcomed into the Bishop's office, and when he asked me in a beautiful and powerful way if I would serve as the Relief Society president of our ward, I knew that it was right. I answered him with an absolute 'yes.' He promised me that I would be blessed forever for my willingness to serve.
All I could say was, "Bishop, I don't know Heavenly Father could possibly bless me more."
No comments:
Post a Comment