As members of the Church, we are all given opportunities to serve. Sometimes these opportunities come as assignments, but more often, they come as callings. We serve in our callings for as long as needed or until we are given a new stewardship. Some serve for as many as five years, but it’s rare to hold a position longer than that.
When we get a new calling, we are set apart to serve in that calling. This means that the bishop gives us a blessing that we might be guided and inspired as we fulfill our duties in regard to that assignment. A Primary teacher might be blessed to have patience with the children in her class, and to have insight into their needs. A Relief Society teacher might be blessed with the ability to present her lessons in ways that would most reach the hearts of the sisters she teaches. Whatever the calling is, the blessing is different and individual. Persons with health issues are sometimes blessed to have the strength to carry out their callings and that their pains might be taken from them. As these blessings come from the Lord, and He is aware of our needs, the blessing we get will be the one we most need.
To me, the most special thing about being set apart for a calling is the transfer of stewardship. When you are called to a certain task, you are given stewardship over that task, and you are entitled to inspiration regarding it. Down the road, when you are released and given another calling, you will find that you no longer have inspiration for your previous calling—that now belongs to the person who has stepped into the role.
A few years ago, before the Enrichment program went quarterly, I was called to be the Enrichment leader. I was called on Sunday night and was asked to run my first meeting the following Tuesday evening, and I had not yet been set apart. I pitched in and ran a good meeting, but I felt overwhelmed the whole time. My children were in the nursery ripping the place up, things kept going wrong, and at the end of the evening, I was so rattled that when I was backing the car up in the parking lot, I hit a car parked behind me. Luckily, the car I hit wasn’t dinged, although I lost my bumper. I went home, called my Relief Society president, and told her I didn’t think I could do the calling. But a flash of knowledge hit me, and I said, “I need to be set apart right away.”
When the bishop placed his hands on my head and gave me a special blessing, unique to me, that I would be able to fulfill that calling and that my children would be more cooperative, I felt the stress and tension flow out of me. I knew that the Lord would be with me as I sought to serve these sisters, and that ways would be created.
This is a rather dramatic example of how being set apart makes a difference, but it does clearly illustrate that the Lord wants to bless us in our callings. He wants to give us that stewardship and to bestow a portion of authority on us to aid us in the fulfillment of our tasks. He never gives us a job to do without making a way for us to do it, and being set apart is just one of many, many ways He does this for us.
Related Blogs:
Articles of Faith Series: The Fifth Article
Whom the Lord Calls, He Qualifies