Callings and Yokes

I was really not looking forward to our Pack council meeting this afternoon.  I really don't loathe them... they're fun,  everybody brings snacks, and not one but 2 of my adored sisters are present (which is true even though one of them is 39.5 weeks pregnant and about to give birth to baby b at any moment). But, it's one more thing, right after church finishes, and the baby needs a nap (and the mama needs a nap) and the kids are hungry and... 

Well, during Primary time, I went to see A read a scripture out in front of the Primary (his turn) and stayed until they were released to classes.  A little boy who is usually rather shy came right up and gave me a massive squeezy hug!  I said hello to him (his name is Cameron, and he's an adorable tow-headed kid, usually quiet) and he ran off to class. I realized, if he had greeted me, as a mom of a friend, or a person in our church ward, he would have probably smiled and merely said hi. But I got a hug.  Because I'm one of the 2 Cubmasters....rather, because I'm one of HIS Cubmasters. 

Suddenly, going to pack committee meeting was a different than it had been. I realized that not only did I have a calling to serve boys who were depending on me (why does it feel sometimes, especially in pain, that everyone is depending on me?)  but I had a chance to be a good role model for these young boys, who in turn will grow up to be righteous men and priesthood leaders in their own homes. Hopefully they will be strong young men and adults, and will learn to respect not just their own parents, but the parents of their peers who are righteous, their good leaders, their faithful BSA leaders, joyful and enthusiastic teachers, and, someday in turn, their future wives.  The example I set today of a strong, hopefully somewhat funny and interesting, continually striving-to-be-righteous woman may not be an example they have in their homes, but they can have one anyway, because Sir and I have chosen to serve.  I don't have to be perfect, and I don't have to do this job perfectly... I just have to, as the cubs continually repeat, do MY best.

And that felt pretty weighty, but the good kind of weight, which is both heavy to bear, and light because the yoke is not yours, but Christ's. He has promised that, if we are willing to wear His yoke, our burdens will be lightened, that we may bear them.  I always think of a dutch milkmaid, when I hear that verse, with her using the tool of a one person yoke to bear the weight of the burden she must carry, the weight distributed across her back in order to make her burdens, though they may not actually be taken away, seem lighter.  The mass is the same... it is the weight of the burden that changes. Since, if it is His yoke, the weight is distributed more evenly, the burden easier to bear, the distance to setting down the burden shortened.... it turns out that the added responsibility becomes more of a joy than a burden.  Which is exactly what I need right now.

Now, if only I can only  feel that way about laundry and dishes....