Church Leadership and Selfless Service - Don't Blow It!

Today the one and only beautiful Kate Livingstone took us all through a lovely spiritual journey together as we discussed topics stemming from chaper 18: Church Leadership and Selfless Service.

Kate brought a lovely green bowl full of Blow Pops for us to remind her of her high school tennis coach's phrase, "don't blow it!" The phrase was meant to remind them not to let their head get in the way of their performance when they had well prepared. 

The story in the manual that we talked about described President Snow's (before he was ordained a prophet) observations of a presiding Elder in a branch in London (similar to a branch president today). The leader externally appeared to be very righteous externally. He worked hard to achieve all that a leader should. None the less things were going wrong in the branch. President Snow prayed for the gift of discernment. President Snow said about this:

"My prayer was answered; I found the brother possessed of a kind of half-hidden, concealed spirit of self-exaltation which was directing him in many of his movements. He would send out a brother to fill an appointment but had a suppressed wish to have the honor of it himself; if the appointment was not attended to, he would chasten the delinquent, not because the work of the Lord was in any degree frustrated or that the brother lost a blessing, but because [he] himself was so despised in being disobeyed. In [a] case where a number were baptized by a brother, his heart rejoiced not so much because the persons were brought into the covenant but because it was done under his superintendency, secretly wishing no person under his charge to obtain much honor unless his own name were brought into connection.”

President Snow actually wrote a letter to branches throughout the region describing this leader's secret motives and feelings. 

The manual states:
Elder Snow did not write this letter to condemn the local leader. His purpose in writing was to help other leaders—that the prideful spirit he described “may be seen, known, and avoided” among them. He warned that many people “who sincerely believe themselves entirely devoid of this spirit of exaltation, would on close examination of their motives which inspire them in their conduct, discover to their surprise that this spirit was urging them forward to perform many of their movements.”

President Snow pointed out that this spirit of "self exaltation" is an evil influence and will harm ourselves and others if we do not rid ourselves of it. 

I think that if we are to find this spirit in ourselves it will require great humility. Do not be discouraged if you have prideful thoughts and self motivated desires. We all have weaknesses that we are designed to over come!

See Overcomer music video below  ->  

Here is a summary of some of our sisters' comments throughout the lesson:

• Don't blow it! Aka trust yourself and don't get in the way of what you can do. 
• The spirit of self exaltation ruins the self. 
• There is always a reason why you are called to your calling even if you feel under qualified. 
• The Lord will help you to see why your calling was given to you to help you and others.
• Don't get in the way of magnifying your calling by being arrogant or doubtful. 
• One of the best ways to magnify ourselves is to magnify Christ and his attributes. 
• Lorenzo snow invites us to be humble in our callings.