Appreciating the Bishop
Mar 18th, 2007 by Bethany
Today I'm giving a Beehives lesson on Appreciating the Bishop. The lesson quotes the following:
“The bishop presides over every person in the ward and directs their local church activities. … All of your adolescent life you will be under the direction of the bishop. He will appoint teachers and supervisors to do his work, but he will be very much interested in your progress. Your life here will be constantly weighed by him, for he is the judge of your worthiness … to receive higher ordinances, and to be worthy to go to the Temple.
“If you are going to work in the Church system you will learn to be obedient to your bishop. If you get into trouble you will be wise if you seek his advice and counsel. He has been designated by the Lord and appointed by the President of the Church to be responsible for you and to make sure you progress according to your worthiness and ability. …
“… He will see you every year at tithing settlement. He will interview you. … If you go on a mission he will be the one who makes the first inquiry as to your fitness and ability to serve in this capacity” (S. Dilworth Young, More Precious than Rubies [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1959], pp. 40–41).
After reading this quote, we're supposed to write down all the responsibilities of the Bishop that we can think of, including family responsibilities. Then we discuss ways we can show him that we appreciate his efforts. Then I pull out my Thank You cards and we all write notes to him telling him how much we appreciate him. Finally, I'm in charge of making sure he gets the notes.
A couple of hitches. We may have an impromptu special guest today, I've been warned, which would trump my lesson. But we may not. The other thing isn't so much a "hitch" as it's an item to figure out. This Wednesday for our Beehive activity the Bishop is coming to speak to us about Patriarchal Blessings. Do I give him the notes today, or do I wait until after his speech on Wednesday? Hmmm…
Some suggestions for appreciating the Bishop from the manual:
The young women may also want to choose one of the following ways of expressing appreciation for the bishop during the coming week:
1. Share your feelings about your bishop with your family at family home evening.
2. Share your feelings about your bishop with the bishop himself.
3. Do something nice for your bishop this week.
4. In your personal prayers, thank Heavenly Father for your bishop and pray for him.
I think this lesson is partly about understanding what the Bishop does, partly about gratitude, and partly about sustaining our leaders. If we understand what they do and the sacrifices they make, we'll be more appreciative and less prone to complain.
Our Bishop is a UPS man. His wife runs a preschool of excellent reputation out of their home. He has a good family. He is good and kind and tries hard to keep up with the hundreds of us in our ward. He practices what he preaches. He is patient. I am grateful for his service and his family's support of him in his calling to serve my ward, my family, and me. Thanks Bishop!