Monday, September 22, 2014

Temple WORK

One of my sisters is a temple worker.  She referred to this in a recent email:
Saturday was temple day.  I guess I need to stop expecting that things can run smoothly because they never do and that is frustrating.  You'd think of all the places on earth, the temple should be orderly!  It's a challenge on a bilingual shift, and I guess we managed, but once again I didn't have enough workers to do what needed to be done.  I think I worked a couple of them too hard.  We also had very very large baptismal groups, to the point that I was worried we wouldn't be able to get the laundry done fast enough to have enough clean and dry towels.  When I got this shift coordinator assignment, I thought it would be a lot easier.
It's uncanny how much this sounds like something I might say when complaining about my job.  A few of the details need tweaking, of course, but the sentiments are exactly the same.  I don't understand how this isn't ruining the magic of the temple for her.  If it takes planning and multitasking like a job, stresses you out like a job, requires adherence to a specific schedule like a job and quacks like a job, then it's probably not a special assignment to do the Lord's work.

The only difference in my mind is that, unlike a job, she doesn't get paid for this.

4 comments:

  1. You make some great points here. It is like a real job but without pay. Of course, her pay is in "blessings," whatever that means.

    Magic? Isn't it interesting that to believe in the church you have to believe in magical type supernatural things. Was she expecting The LORD to step in and make it easier, because she's doing HIS work?

    Things HE could have helped her with:

    Understanding the other language
    Provide more workers
    Make those workers more productive
    Inspire smaller groups to come
    Have those groups come further apart
    Speed up the laundry equipment.

    Yup. Welcome to the real world of work. I mean those temples didn't build themselves, and the LORD didn't build them either. It took the donated sweat and treasure of a lot of people.

    Now to another point I feel is important. Isn't it sad that church members spend so much of their spare time working for the dead instead of the living? I bet there are plenty of people in the ward or neighborhood that could use a few of hours help on a Saturday morning. I'm thinking of single mothers who struggle everyday and could use help with watching kids, cleaning house, doing yard work, etc. while many of the members are working tirelessly, but falling further and further behind, trying to baptize every last person who ever lived into the Mormon church.

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    1. It definitely is sad.

      And she has such a stressful job to begin with, so you'd think temple work would be the calming spiritual experience that helps keep her centered. Nope, just another source of stress. It would be more therapeutic and more productive if she did some yard work for one of those struggling members instead. But the dead take precedence over the living, apparently.

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    2. You would think it would be uplifting and fulfilling, and unfortunately for her, if she does nothing, she'll be filled with guilt. Then, in order to relieve the stress of being stuck, Bednar would tell her to take on more burdens. She can't win.

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    3. I'd already forgotten about Bednar's stupid talk and it hasn't even been six months.

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