Sunday, July 31, 2011

An Expression of Gratitude

I have received a couple of emails in the past week from sisters who are newly called to this position, and I was reminded of the pure terror that I felt when I was called as the chorister last year.  I remember I cried and cried. And cried.  The first thing I did was call my mom, and tell her that the worst thing ever just happened!  She laughed a little, but told me to get down on my knees and ask for help from my Heavenly Father and he would sustain me.  She also told me to research, research, research!  So after I followed step 1 of her plan, I hit the internet in search of inspiration.  I got a lot of ideas, and over the next few weeks I started feeling like all of my preparation would help to ease my nerves a little bit.  The first week was hard, and I sweat through my clothes and took a 3 hour nap after church to recover.  It started to get easier, mostly because of the children and their total willingness to love me and participate.  I was going to be just fine.

Then, I stumbled upon Kathleen's blog, The Children Sing.  As I read all of her posts from the beginning of her blog, I read a post entitled "An Invitation to Sing."  I encourage you to follow the link and read her post, as I can't word it better than she did.  This single post has done more for me than any other advice, idea, or encouragement.  So, to those of you who I've been corresponding with, I hope you read this.  And for those of you who are burned out, overwhelmed, un-enthused, or just not feeling the weight of the Spirit behind you, I know that it will help.

And to Kathleen, I've been thinking about you since you posted the "end" of your blog.  I want to express a public but very sincere thank-you for all of the inspiration that you have provided to me and to all of us in this calling.  Thank you for reminding me of the purpose of our mission, and for always bringing the Spirit into your posts.  I know that you are one of the Lord's "power tools" and I have been blessed to have your association.  So, thank you!  I hope that we still hear from you from time to time!

Sincerely,
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4 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting that, I definatley needed it! I think I am starting to get excited. Keep up the great ideas, I'll need them :)

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  2. Well Brittney, you take my breath away. You are just too kind and I appreciate your post - very much. You are so welcome, for anything I've put up and thank you as well.

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  3. Thank you for your post. I am a brand new chorister. This Sunday the 15th of January will be my second week. I too cried and cried. Not only did I call my mom but my dad and my sister telling them the worst thing in my life had happened. My mom told me I would do great and that children love me, my sister told me that I needed to remember that I don’t have to do bigger or better each week, and my dad reminded me of a special part of my patriarchal blessing that talks about primary children. But I still didn’t want to do it. The bishop told me he woke up at 3 am with my name clearly in his mind. But I still didn’t want the calling. I even had the spirit tell me that I would be called to this position as I waited outside the Bishops door. But I still had my heels in the ground. I too have prayed A LOT and have done a bunch of research. Thankfully, I have stumbled upon your cute blog. As I went to church last Sunday I felt prepared and a confidence that I could grow into this calling, and then the worst possible thing did happen. My pianist didn’t show up and didn’t get a sub. On my first day… REALLY?!?!?! So I thought maybe this story would make you laugh and I wanted to say keep up the good work because I need your inspiration.

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  4. Emilee,

    Thanks for sharing that! I think your experience is very common! I hope your pianist shapes up, though :)
    I know you'll love this calling, and that you're going to be blessed for choosing to do the hard thing (which is say yes!). Please let me know if there's every ANYTHING I can help you out with - an idea, a visual aid, whatever. Have a great time!

    -Brittney

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