A lesson learned

A few years ago a friend told Dave and me this: "Activities Committee Chair is the only calling in the church that made me want to go inactive." I thought he was joking. I even laughed. But he was serious. Very serious. And I just couldn't understand why. Until now. I've been the chairperson for a little over a year now, but on the committee for nearly 2 years. At the time I was ecstatic at the call because I love to throw a party and immediately I envisioned all the fun things I was actually going to do. This would be much better than any party I threw at my house because it would be so much bigger! But if I'm being honest, I came off that cloud pretty quickly. And it wasn't long before this call became one of the most challenging I have faced. Without going into all the detail as to why, it wasn't much longer after that when I knew exactly what my friend was talking about. Our committee has worked hard. Countless hours have gone into planning, preparation, carrying out, and then discussing (even when the activities have been very successful) what we can do next time to make them even better. But tonight I learned something.

Tonight was our adults only Road Rally (basically a photo scavenger hunt). I don't know if it just wasn't explained right, or people didn't want to find a babysitter, or if people found babysitters and just decided their time would be better spent doing something else, or if it just didn't sound like a good activity, or whatever, but I knew going into it that the turnout would be small. And it was; much smaller than I even anticipated. 22. Yes, 22 people attended, including the 6 activities committee members. 22 people out of a rough 240 sacrament meeting attendees. It was disheartening. It was frustrating. It was hurtful. And yes, I was angry. However, it was also the best ward activity I've attended in the 2 years I've been on the committee. Let me let you in on a little secret. Before every single activity and after all the hustle and bustle to get things together, I will disappear for a few minutes. I find a room where there is noone around and I take a few minutes to talk with my Heavenly Father. Often times I am in tears (mostly because I've been so stressed), pleading with Him to lead the activity and for His presence to be felt in the hearts of some, if not all, through fellowship and friendship. Tonight I did the same thing, only this prayer was a little different. Before the activity began, our committee was discussing the fact that we knew our numbers would be small. However I knew that I could not have a negative attitude about it. We did what we could and we had to hope that the Lord would make up for the rest. I tried to keep the conversation positive. I knew that we could not control the number of people that came, but that the ones that did come would have a great time. And we did. And this is what I learned (forgive me, for I know most of you probably already know this. I knew it too I thought, but tonight was the first time I actually experienced it. Have you ever heard that maybe faith isn't faith until it's tested?)...a successful activity isn't defined by how great the decorations are, how good the food is, or how many people come. A successful activity is defined by what those who attend get out of it. There was fellowshipping, there was laughing, there was bonding and new friendships developed. For some, it was the first ward activity they have ever attended and I had chills as I looked over at them and saw them laughing. I was so grateful that Heavenly Father heard my prayer before this activity started. I am so thankful that He taught me this simple yet profound lesson and gave me the strength I needed to make it through this activity. Our committee convened at the end for a few minutes. The thoughts and feelings were unanimous. For our committee, for so many reasons, this was by far one of the best activities we have planned. I think we were all feeling a little beaten down after the last couple of activities, but now it seems we all have a renewed excitement and we're already looking forward to planning what's up next on the calendar.

So now maybe I've learned the lesson Heavenly Father has obviously been trying to teach me. Does that mean I'll be getting a release soon?! Just kidding!