This couple was amazing!

They guest-taught Sunday School lessons.

They hosted youth activities.

They made ward and individual goals.

They did home visits.

They helped me learn how to do family history work, and I took my own family names to the temple for the first time.

It was really cool.

I was so impressed by how they chose to take a calling that others could perceive as small, insignificant, or unnecessary and magnify it using their unique talents and strengths.

What callings do you have right now?

Official ward callings are great but also think about your callings as a ministering brother or sister, parent, teacher, sibling, honorary grandma, spouse, or organizer.

The Lord taught:

“Thou shalt magnify thine office, and push many people to Zion with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads.” (D&C 66:11) 

Creation isn’t just for artists, writers, and musicians.

We all get to create when we figure out exactly how we will fill the roles we have, the callings we’ve been given, and the assignments we receive.

Just like things grow larger when they are magnified…

We can grow and create when we magnify our roles.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Magnify  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

And I’ve been a presidency member who seeks revelation, takes initiative, and connects with the people I serve.⁣

I’ve been a Ward Choir Director who waits for someone else to tell me what to do and when.

And I’ve been a Ward Choir Director who makes decisions through the Spirit, gets approval from certain leaders, and moves forward with confidence and authority.⁣

I’ve been a teacher who prepares my lesson, comes to church, and teaches it.

And I’ve been a teacher who gets to know the youth that I teach, tailors lessons to their needs, and follows the Spirit with how to conduct my classes.⁣

Why does it matter if I’m the former or the latter example for each calling?⁣

Absolutely, connecting with others and building up my ward family is so important.⁣

But honestly, if my Heavenly Father needs to get a message to a teen sitting in my class, and I’m not accessing the Spirit and authority that I have, He will just find someone else to deliver the message who is more in-tune.⁣

(I mean, I really want to make sure I can do my best to be that person, but God can make anything happen whether or not I’m engaged.)

At the end of the day, my church callings are about my Heavenly Father and me.⁣

“And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility” (Jacob 1:19)

Am I going to learn, as Jacob teaches, how to magnify and take responsibility?⁣

Am I going to learn that when I am set apart for a calling, I am given priesthood authority to act?⁣

Am I going to learn that I can ALWAYS choose to be Christlike, no matter the limitations or imperfect people I face?⁣

The lessons I can learn are endless.⁣

And sometimes, the lesson is that it’s okay to scale back and simplify.

When I look at church callings through the lens of my personal relationship with my Savior, I keep everything in perspective a little better.

The frustrations, limitations and exhaustion don’t matter as much.

And whenever I become more Christlike, I am magnifying my calling, no matter what it may, or may not, be.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Magnify it!  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

It’s a piece of parenting advice I’ve been leaning into recently.

I’ve proved it time and time again.

One of my kids kept doing something they shouldn’t do over and over, and any correction I was giving was clearly going in one ear and out the other.

“What you focus on, grows.”

I wanted to keep correcting, but I decided to ignore the behavior and instead start asking him questions about a fun play date he had recently.

He got so excited and started talking all about it.

I was able to build positive interactions and compliment him.

The bad behavior stopped, and it ended up being a fun little connection moment with him.

“What you focus on, grows.”

I’ve found it to be so true in my life, too.

When I keep complaining, my problems seem bigger and worse.

When I keep showing gratitude, my blessings seem bigger and better.

When I try to find more opportunities to serve, I serve more.

When I judge someone, I start finding more and more things to judge about them.

“Let God be magnified.” (Psalm 70:4)

I want God to become more and more magnified in my life.

I want to continue to focus on Him day after day.

I want to think of Him, speak of Him and love Him.

I want to make more space for Him in my mind and in my schedule.

Because what I focus on, grows.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post What you focus on grows first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

A few years ago, EVERYONE knew who our family history consultants were.

They were amazing.

They came in and taught Sunday School lessons, hosted youth activities, made goals, and did home visits.

I did family history work, and took my own names to the temple.

It was awesome.

Our consultants especially impressed me because that calling is a pretty vague one. Not every ward even has them, and I don’t think I could have told you who held that calling previously. Not that that’s a bad thing.

But I was just so impressed by how they chose to magnify a calling that could be perceived by others as small, insignificant, or unnecessary.

They made it large by using their unique talents and strengths.

What callings do you have right now?

Sure, what calling do you have at church.

But also, what other callings do you have?

A mom, a teacher, a parent, a ministering sister, an actual sister, an honorary grandma, a leader, a spouse, a child, an organizer…

I was shocked (okay but kinda really) when I took my first baby girl home from the hospital that there was no handbook on how to be a mom.

I get to just… figure it out.

But I feel this motivation to not just “figure out” how to be a mom, but to instead MAGNIFY that calling.

How to think for myself and create the best “mom” that I can with my personal talents and strengths.

I think about my Savior.

I don’t think there was an exact blueprint that His life here on earth had to follow.

Instead… He just went about doing good in quiet but powerful ways.

He created how He would fill the calling of the Savior by using His kind and eternal talents and strengths.

Creation isn’t just for artists, writers, and musicians.

We all get to create.

We get to create exactly how we are going to fill the roles that we have. The callings we’ve been given. The assignments we receive.

We get to magnify what we’ve been given to create even more.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Magnify with your talents first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.