Tuesday, November 10, 2015

An Assuming, Assisting Invitation

On Sunday, the Ward choir director asked me to join the choir. Actually, what she had asked me was whether or not I needed a ride to choir. At that point, I hadn't been a member of the choir for some time, and the director and I hadn't talked about the notion of me returning to the choir. The question of whether or not I needed a ride seemed to assume that I'd be willing to rejoin the choir, or that I had never really left.

On one hand, this might seem slightly rude. What if I didn't want to join the choir? What if I didn't have time? The choir director didn't ask me if I was interested in joining the choir; she assumed (correctly) that I was. Though this sort of "invitation" may seem rude by mortal standards, God extends invitations to us in the same way. When He invites us to act, He doesn't ask us if we'd be willing to do something, or if we have time for it. He just asks us to do it. The choir director was following our Heavenly Father's example.

From another perspective, the choir director's invitation wasn't rude, but helpful. When she asked me to join the choir, what she specifically asked me was whether or not I needed a ride to choir. She didn't just ask me to do something; she offered me help in doing it. God does the same. Whenever God gives us a commandment, He gives us the power we need to keep the commandment, even if the help we need would take a miracle. God doesn't always make it easy for us to keep His commandments, but He always makes sure that there's a way. The choir director made sure that I had a way to come to choir in the very act of inviting me to come.

I believe that the choir director followed the promptings of the spirit when she extended that invitation to me. I don't think it's always the best method to use when inviting someone to do something, but I have to admit that it worked, and that I'm glad the director asked me to rejoin the choir, and specifically that she asked me that way.

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