Service Takes Faith

I'd like to think that, generally speaking, I'm fairly good at giving service. I serve my loved ones regularly and willingly enough. I serve even strangers fairly frequently. But I'm not sure how well those small, occasional-to-frequent acts of service compare with some of the greater acts of service, including the one I turned down.

Elder Carl B. Cook spoke about such service. He said that blessings come through service in the church and that church callings come from God. He literally said that: "All Church callings come from God—through His appointed servants." He also said that "Even if we think that our Church calling was simply our priesthood leader’s idea . . . we will be blessed as we serve."

But in this case, I'm not sure how much "blessing" it would take to be worth accepting the calling I have been extended. It would take an enormous amount of blessing just to sustain me in the calling so that I can do it without completely hating it. Beyond that, who knows? I know that God is generous to those who serve Him, but I've serve Him in this capacity before, and I didn't feel richly blessed, except in a few moments.

I suppose it all comes back to faith. I have no faith in the value or necessity of the calling I've been extended. Do I have enough faith in God to take His word for it that this is something that needs to be done? Do I have enough faith in Him to trust that the blessings I'd receive would mitigate and/or be worth the struggles I'd need to overcome? Do I have enough faith to accept the calling that I really, REALLY don't want to accept?

No.

Apparently, I need more faith.