As a young teenager I use to hate driving any where with my mother. The reason? She followed the rules of the road to a “T” and this annoyed me. As I sat and watched everyone pass us by I’d tell her that we needed to go faster. She would point to her speedometer (usually about 5 miles under the speed limit) and begin quoting the Twelfth Article of Faith to me.
“We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers and magistrates in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law”.
It was very frustrating to me for two reasons. First, she was quoting scripture to me. Second, because she was right. I wanted nothing more than to fit in and she wanted nothing more than to obey God and that included obeying the laws of the land as well.
It’s really very small and simple, but how many of us are actually thinking about being a disciple of Christ when we are late for an appointment? Often we think of the large and dramatic things we give up of ourselves as we work to become His disciples. There are also some very small things that many of us overlook either because they don’t stand out in the crowd or because they don’t fit with the daily care of the world we so often get caught up in. Still, learning to be obedient in little things makes it easier to be obedient in larger things.
I was thinking of this while I sat in Sacrament meeting yesterday. I was pondering how my life was conforming to Christ’s example and what I needed to improve when my eyes landed on the hymnal in front of me. It was resting in the wooden pocket designed for it on the back of the pew in front of me. The problem was it was sitting in the pocket the wrong way. It was a very little thing that I hadn’t even thought of when I’d deposited the book there. I wasn’t thinking, I was following a previously established habit. But when I had a moment to think of ways I could improve my obedience for the coming week, I suddenly remembered. I remembered the bishop had recently asked us to place our hymnals on their spine to preserve them for a little longer. Doing this would reduce the pulling and stress on the cover and spine and keep it from tearing when we needed many more years of use from them. I had completely forgotten to obey a very small and simple request from one of the Lord’s servants.
My resolve for that Sacrament meeting was to notice more of the little things I can be more obedient in. It’s the way of the disciple.
