Help Thou Mine Unbelief

During a study session for my Becoming Project on faithfulness, I received a bit of pointed chastisement.

I took time out before writing this and posted about how crazy life has been the past few months to make my feelings more understandable. Because of all this crazy in my life, I have been seriously contemplating asking to be released from my temple calling, instead of going back in a couple of weeks when my leave time runs out.

Fall semester starts next week and I am taking two classes. Homework has been a challenge with Bubba in the house. I come home from work and he wants to spend time with “uh-ma.” With my new job, I no longer get to leave early on Fridays. I used that time for homework.

During my leave from the temple, I have thoroughly enjoyed having my Saturdays again. I have been using them to do homework, putter around and get things done in the house, and play with Bubba. Thinking about going back makes me sad. This shouldn’t be the reaction to returning to my temple assignment. Looking at the calendar yesterday, at the day I am supposed to go back, literally made me sick to my stomach. I stayed home from church yesterday and went to bed.

My problem is that I know I am supposed to go back.  I have been praying that He would help me change my desires to match what He wants me to do. This hasn’t happened. I have come to the slow realization that I have to do this because I have to do this.

Now to the chastisement.

I was reading the talk Help Thou Mine Unbelief by L. Whitney Clayton. There were three things that jumped out to me:

•   To have faith in Jesus Christ means to have such trust in him that we obey whatever he commands. There is no faith where there is no obedience.

• We simply go and do the things the Lord has commanded, even when we are weary, trusting that He will help us to do exactly as He asks.  As we do so, the Lord helps our unbelief, and our faith becomes powerful, vibrant, and unshakable. 

• No matter who we are or where we live, there is much about our daily lives that is routine and repetitive. As we go about this dailiness, we must be deliberate about doing the things that matter most. These must-do things include making room first for the minimum daily requirements of faithful behavior: true obedience, humble prayer, serious scripture study, and selfless service to others. No other daily vitamins strengthen the muscles of our faith as fast as these actions.

There you have it. If I truly want to increase my faithfulness, this is what I have to do. I must simply go and do what matters most and trust that the Lord will take care of the rest.

Of Company Culture and Loyalty to God

Jan Newman gave a speech on Loyalty to God and Family. He discussed how you can never compromise (crunch time) your loyalty to the Lord or your family; the Lord requires a willing heart and mind and our greatest legacy will be our family and the Lord.

“Never be too busy with work to accept a calling.”

He mentioned that when he was working on his company he served as a bishop and then a stake president. He gave the advice that having integrity and honesty will make you stick out like a sore thumb. People will want you!!

In the paper So You Want to be an Entrepreneur, The Acton Foundation lists three areas of knowledge which are critical for starting a successful business:

1.      In-depth knowledge of the competitive structure of an industry and a network of contacts within that industry;

2.      The skills to run the daily operations of a small, rapidly growing company; and

3.      The ability to raise money. 

Understanding daily operations is critical for entrepreneurs because they include many different issues: ". . . from accounting, production, organizational and administrative dilemmas to general business philosophy. All of these must be woven into a consistent set of principles and procedures. A disorganized accounting system or poor physical surroundings can likewise take a heavy toll on profits"

This stuck out to me:

"If the company culture is flawed, almost any strategy is in jeopardy."

Why did it stick out? Because I work in an office where some of these things are really broken. I have been working on trying to change many of the problems that we have on a recurring basis; however, I have come to the realization that the problem is the boss and he is not going to change.

I have experienced what flawed culture can do. It decreases morale, increases turnover, decreases customer satisfaction, and ultimately does take a heavy toll on profits. Turnover is expensive. Unhappy customers don’t give referrals. But what do you do when the cause of the problem is the owner who won’t change? You either leave or deal with it the best you can.

That is something I would like to learn; how to manage up and change a boss who is stuck in behaviors that, I worry, may run him out of business.

Of Perseverance and Heroes

This week we read a talk given by President James E. Faust called Perseverance. When he was younger he wondered “What will be my place in this world, and how will I find it?” His only real goal at that time was to serve a mission. That mission eventually became "like a North Star." An important lesson he learned was: 

"If I faithfully persevered in my Church callings, the Lord would open up the way and guide me to other opportunities and blessings, even beyond my dreams."

He talked of President Hinckley who had as his theme "Carry On." Referring to carry on and endure. President Hinckley left an amazing legacy of temple building. He then quoted President George Q. Cannon who said of temples:

“Every foundation stone that is laid for a Temple, and every Temple completed according to the order the Lord has revealed for his holy Priesthood, lessens the power of Satan on the earth, and increases the power of God and Godliness, moves the heavens in mighty power in our behalf, invokes and calls down upon us the blessings of the Eternal Gods, and those who reside in their presence.”

At the time, it seemed like such an undoable task, to get to 100 temples. Now we are over 140. He carried on and did amazing things with the help of God.

Jeff Sandefer of the Acton Foundation gave a speech about a Hero’s Journey. We can all be heroes if we find our true calling in life. He said:

“You have a mission on this earth that will succeed beyond your wildest dreams; IF you have the faith and courage to find your entrepreneurial calling.”

“Choosing a Hero’s Journey is to live every moment of your life like it mattered; because it does; to live as if you have an important mission; because you do; seeing struggles as adventures and setbacks as lessons. And like Sir Lancelot and the Holy Grail or Harry Potter and Voldemort, what matters most isn’t the prize at the end but how the Hero is changed in the process.”

In surveys of people over 60, it was found that they generally only had three questions that mattered at the end of life:

1.      Have I contributed something meaningful?

2.      Am I a good person?

3.      Who did I love and who loved me?

Contribute something meaningful by finding your calling – something that you are naturally gifted at, that brings you joy, and satisfies a deep burning need in the world.

Be a good person by creating ethical guardrails.

Remain loveable and loving by choosing your fellow travelers well. You will come to be like those who surround you.

I wonder what my place in this world is. What is my true calling in life? I look forward to finding that out.

Reference:
Perseverance, James E. Faust, April 2005
A Hero's Journey, Jeff Sandefer, BYU-Idaho 

Learning to be an Entrepreneur

I have never thought of myself as an entrepreneur. I have often wished I was. Wouldn't it be amazing to come up with the next "it" item, the software that makes everyone's life easier, or a time-saving gadget that everyone is clamoring to buy?

In studying business, it seems that even if you aren't an entrepreneur, you need to learn to think like one, because business today can turn on a dime. When someone else comes up with that next "it" item, your world could change in an instant.

So, here I am, studying entrepreneurship.

I will be discovering my entrepreneurial "calling." Learning and developing constructive habits. Selecting my next "stepping stone job." Embracing Disciple Leadership. And, journalling my discoveries along the way.

Here we go!