Accepting a Vacation
It occurs to me that one of the great things about vacations is that you have small defined problems that you can then solve. Getting to the airport, unpacking your stuff, finding a replacement for the charger that didn’t get packed. No one consciously wants this and too much of it can spoil the vacation but in moderation it gives you a sense of order and accomplishment and rest. Most adult problems are either not containable into a tidy little task or keep getting repeated and repeated and repeated.
Which means that there are probably discrete little tasks that people set themselves just for the joy of doing a discrete, intelligible, doable job–and now that I think of it, yes there are. They are called hobbies.
Let’s make a gospel point out of it. Mostly we think of callings as an extra burden. One more thing. Most of us accept them dutifully, even cheerfully, but even so we feel that we have one more task to do.
Perhaps we can see callings differently. Start from the standpoint that we are aspiring angels, sons and daughters of God that He has called to grow up, and in principle the tasks and goals we face are limitless. This is a point C.S. Lewis makes; this a point the temple also makes; we owe all of our time and talents and effort to the work of the Lord. What a relief then to be able to take a little vacation, where your only difficulties are this nursery, or this ward, or even this Church, and this family and neighborhood of yours.
Vocation, vacation.
Filed under: We transcend your bourgeois categories | No Tag
E.C.
February 2, 2024
I’m sorry, but I just got released from a stake calling (will ask the bishop to find me a calling next Sunday), and my idea of vacation is NOT 4-9 hours of meetings every other Sunday, plus sometimes more depending on how gung-ho the rest of the leadership was and whether there were ward conferences to attend. It was basically another part-time job, just on Sundays, which meant that I wore myself out completely for two years running.
Which, to be sure, I promised most faithfully to do, and I tried my best, but it WAS a task, and not one that I was well-suited for. It wasn’t even a vocation, because I do not like ‘leadership roles’; I would rather be somewhere in the background doing actually useful things to build community, rather than holding meetings about building community.
It was like being trapped in middle management, and most of the time I felt totally superfluous, if I’m being honest.
It also meant that I have had no energy or time, extreme introvert that I am, to do any dating whatsoever – and I’m about to age out of the YSA scene.
Do I think that it resulted in blessings for my family? Oh heck yes. I received some very specific blessings when I was sustained that were in fact fulfilled. But my latest calling was not a vacation from the world, it was an intrusion of the world into the gospel in the form of endless meetings.
G.
February 2, 2024
That sounds awful. That type of middle manager thing is a curse.
I’m afraid it’s not fair to expect most of you to do what I do which is to get up and walk out of church calling meetings after about 30 minutes
E.C.
February 2, 2024
You know, I tried, I really tried to gently suggest, persuade, and convince people that 1) this meeting could be a text or an email, or 2) this meeting could take 5-10 minutes after church or before another meeting. No. It was always assumed that every meeting had to be 60-90 minutes long, and at least half of it was just chatting. It drove me wild, and though I really wanted to leave, I did need to be there to make sure I had the information necessary to do my calling.
If ever I do end up in a leadership position where I call the meetings, I’m going to make sure they’re actually necessary, instead of a frustrating waste of time when I want to be worshipping and making my Sabbath a delight.
Also, to be clear, sometimes councils are necessary for big decisions or problem solving in the stake; those weren’t what I had an issue with. It’s the meetings for the sake of meetings that I hate.
Pirate Captain
February 6, 2024
I am like G. I leave after 30ish minutes, and I let the leadership know why.
Which is likely one reason why I rarely (and thankfully!) get callings that require meetings.