Bless in His Name

You might wonder what magnifying your calling could look like for you.

As a new deacon I thought my only responsibility was passing the sacrament in my family room (where their branch met).

The purpose for our receiving the priesthood is too allows us to bless people in His name.

Instead of praying that I might do my job well I have learned to pray that the people would {feel the Savior’s love through my service.}

I like how he prays to know what blessing the Lord would give, not what he wants to give or what people there might want.

It takes effort to distinguish what the Lord wants from what you want and what the other person wants.

He gave you the priesthood because He loves you and He trusts you to bless people in His name.

I was ordained a deacon in a branch so small that I was the only deacon and my brother Ted the only teacher. We were the only family in the branch. The entire branch met in our home. The priesthood leader for my brother and me was a new convert who had just received the priesthood himself. I believed then my only priesthood duty was to pass the sacrament in my own dining room.

When my family moved to Utah, I found myself in a large ward with many deacons. In my first sacrament meeting there, I observed the deacons—an army, it seemed to me—moving with precision as they passed the sacrament like a trained team.

I was so frightened that the next Sunday I went early to the ward building to be by myself when no one could see me. I remember that it was the Yalecrest Ward in Salt Lake City, and it had a statue on the grounds. I went behind the statue and prayed fervently for help to know how not to fail as I took my place in passing the sacrament. That prayer was answered.

But I know now that there is a better way to pray and to think as we try to grow in our priesthood service. It has come by my understanding why individuals are given the priesthood. The purpose for our receiving the priesthood is to allow us to bless people for the Lord, doing so in His name.

I like this mindset that our purpose in exercising the priesthood is too serve in His name and seek to have people feel His love for them.

As a bishop, I learned while conducting worthiness interviews to pray for the Lord to let me sense what He wanted for the person, keeping any inspiration He would provide unclouded by my own judgment. That is hard if the Lord, in love, may want to bless someone with correction. It takes effort to distinguish what the Lord wants from what you want and the other person may want.

You may feel small compared to the great sweep of what the Lord will do. If you do, I invite you to ask prayerfully how the Lord sees you. He knows you personally, He conferred the priesthood upon you, and your rising up and magnifying the priesthood matter to Him because He loves you and He trusts you to bless people He loves in His name.

It’s probably time for me to ask again how the Lord sees me currently and make sure that my efforts align with His vision.