My roommates and I moved into our freshman dorms at BYU, and our new bishopric emailed out a “get-to-know-you” survey to everyone.⁣

(I can’t even imagine how overwhelmed that bishopric was with having to meet 180 18-19 year olds all at the same time, and issue callings as quickly as possible.)

Of course, one of the questions on their survey was: ⁣

Do you play the piano?⁣

I stopped when I saw that question.

Because I was afraid.

I was afraid that if I answered truthfully, I would be “stuck” in a musical calling.

And music-related callings are often demanding and/or isolating.

But I also remembered the lessons my parents had taught me about sharing my talents at church. ⁣

I filled out the survey, saying that I did play the piano.⁣

The Lord was talking to many of the men who had traveled to Missouri in D&C 60:2:

“But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man.”⁣

These men were hiding their talents because of FEAR.

I’ve learned that anything fear-based is not coming from God. ⁣

If I’m afraid of people judging me

Or I’m afraid of people comparing me

Or if I’m afraid of getting a certain calling

Or if I’m afraid of being asked to volunteer in some way

Or even if I’m afraid of people thinking I’m trying to “show off”…

That doesn’t feel generous and loving to me.⁣

In fact, this makes me think of the Law of Consecration.

ALL of my talents and gifts come from God anyways. ⁣

Anything that I do to increase my talents and gifts, whether it’s a musical gift, or it’s just opening my mouth and talking about the gospel…⁣

Anything that I can do to increase any gift, is showing gratitude to the Lord. ⁣

Gratitude is the key.⁣

When I’m filled with gratitude, then I don’t have any fear. ⁣

It has taken me a while to get to this point, but I want to be so ridiculously generous with my time and all of my talents.

Which means… ⁣

No fear. Only gratitude.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post “Do you play the piano?” first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

⁣”. . . He was a man of many words, and did speak much flattery to the people; therefore he led many of the people to do after the manner of his iniquities.” (Mosiah 27:8)

It seems like Alma was a natural leader.

And it seems like he was a charismatic speaker.

He was able to convince a lot of people that their parents had foolish traditions.

But then what happened a few years later?

Alma used those same strong speaking and leadership skills to unite, baptize, and convert countless Nephites as their high priest.

He convinced many people of the error of their ways!

Alma had innate, God-given talents.

But it was up to Alma how he used them.

What talents have you been blessed with?

It’s worth considering if we are using our talents for good.

Or for evil.

Or . . . are we not using them at all?

God wants us to use what we have to offer to build up the world.

He wants us to improve our local church community.

He wants us to contribute to our families.

He wants us to build ourselves up.

The talents that we have matter.

And what we choose to do with those talents matters a whole lot!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Charismatic and persuasive Alma first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“Why can’t she just fulfill her calling? It’s not that hard!”

I’ve noticed that when I judge other people, I’m usually comparing my strengths to their weaknesses.

I’m an organized, efficient, and dependable person.

So a lot of the judgmental thoughts in my head are focused on how other people are not as organized, efficient, or dependable as I am.

And on the flip side…

When I’m sinking into self-pity, overwhelmed at everything I’m not doing, I’ve noticed something, too.

“We spend so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others—usually comparing our weaknesses to their strengths.” —Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I’m usually comparing my weaknesses to other people’s strengths.

“Why can’t I create a creative meal like that for my kids?”

“I’ll never be able to connect the way she does.”

It sounds a lot like the situation Paul describes:

“And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.” (1 Corinthians 12:21)

We are all (to some extent) saying that we don’t need people the way they are when we judge them.

And we are all thinking that our community doesn’t need us the way we are when we judge ourselves negatively.
⁣
We all have been given different spiritual gifts and talents.

There is no need to compare our gifts and talents with each other.

No matter how tempting it may be to do so!

We need everyone in the kingdom of God.

We need people at every skill level.

We need people with every kind of gift imaginable.

We need people who are willing to develop new talents.

We need people who are patient with other people’s weaknesses and don’t stress about fixing things they can’t fix.

We don’t need to feel prideful about the gifts we have, or bitter about the gifts we don’t.

We can just feel gratitude.

For ourselves, and for others.

Just like a body needs all the various parts with their unique functions, scars, shapes, beauty, injuries, and purposes…

We need everyone EXACTLY as they are right now, filled with different personalities and strengths and quirks and experiences, in order to create a functioning, beautiful body of saints who are willing to take the time to love and lift everyone toward Jesus.

You are needed exactly as you are!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The harsh truth about judging others first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

As I stood a little bit speechless on the doorstep with chaos behind me and a husband who still wouldn’t be home for a couple of hours, she said:

“I felt a prompting that you needed dinner tonight, and I just had to act!”

I graciously accepted the meal, thanked her profusely, and held my tears back until the door had shut.

I wanted to feel embarrassed that I hadn’t even started thinking about dinner yet, but I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude and love.

The sister who brought the dinner had redirected all the credit I wanted to give her to the Lord, and that made a big impact on me.

She didn’t want any of my praise that I tried to give her.

She was just following through on what I know to be one of her spiritual gifts— acting immediately and confidently on promptings.

In Joseph’s time, everyone was starting to recognize him as the dream interpreter.

The butler and the baker learned about him in prison.

And now the pharaoh was learning about his skill, too.

But each time that someone tried to label Joseph as the one who could interpret dreams, he was always quick to point out:

“It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” (Genesis 41:16)

God was the one giving Joseph the ability to do this.

I love two things about this:

First, that Joseph recognized where his gift came from.

But secondly, that he seemed to point this out to other people, too!

I think most of us know that we should be showing gratitude to God for our gifts and talents.

We try to redirect our minds to give God credit and to show how grateful we are.

But how often do we mention that to others?

YOU may know that your gifts come from heaven, but do other people know that you know that?

What a sweet and simple way to bear testimony.

The woman who brought me dinner wasn’t making me feel her love.

She was helping me to feel God’s love.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Gratitude and credit to the Lord first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I’m sure that Bishopric was overwhelmed with having to meet 180 18-19 year olds all at the same time, and issue callings as quickly as possible. 

Of course, one of the questions was:

Do you play the piano?

I remember talking to a friend who immediately said:

“There is NO way I’m admitting that I can play the piano. Because that would get me stuck with a piano calling!”

I laughed and totally empathized with her not wanting to play the piano for everything at church.

And… I was even tempted to fill it out untruthfully too.

But I also remembered the lessons my parents had taught me about sharing my talents with everything at church. They were great examples of sharing their strengths with their ward.

I filled out the survey, saying that I did play the piano.

The Lord was talking to many of the men who had traveled to Missouri in D&C 60:2, he said that:

“But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man.”

These men were hiding their talents because of the fear of men!

I’ve learned that anything fear-based is not coming from God.

If I’m afraid of people judging me, or comparing me, or if I’m afraid of getting a certain calling, or if I’m afraid of being asked to volunteer in some way…

That doesn’t feel generous and loving to me.

It probably means that I have some jealousy to work on.

In fact, this makes me think of what I shared about the Law of Consecration a couple of weeks ago.

ALL of my talents and gifts come from God anyways.

Anything that I do to increase my talents and gifts, whether it’s a musical gift, or it’s just opening my mouth and talking about the gospel…

Anything that I can do to increase any gift, is showing gratitude to the Lord anyways. 

Gratitude is the key.

When I’m filled with gratitude, then I don’t have any fear.

I want to be so ridiculously generous with my time and all of my talents, because I want the Lord to know I would give it all back to Him!

No fear. Only gratitude.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Fear and talents first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

So all those lessons growing up in Primary and Young Women’s where we would have to write down everyone’s spiritual gifts or talents?

I always got the same messages on my post-it notes:

“You are soooo good at playing the piano!”

“You are an amazing singer!”

“You did great when you played ____ in the musical last year!”

It always made me wonder what my spiritual gifts were.

Because I knew that my talents that I had been given, and then worked hard to cultivate, weren’t actually of big consequence in the grand scheme of things.

I KNEW I was musically talented, and that I was smart in school, but I also knew that Heavenly Father gave me more to help build up His kingdom.

I just didn’t know what it was.

Until I went to a Girls’ Camp, and we did this activity yet again, where we wrote everyone’s special strengths and gifts on sticky notes and put them on each other’s backs.

When I took my sticky notes off of my back, one of my camp leaders had written: “You know that you are crazy talented. But I love that you always make sure everyone is included. You have such a gift for noticing who is being left out and trying to include them in whatever fun things are going on.”

I never forgot that note.

I’m not sure exactly what Ammaron and Mormon’s relationship was like.

But I know that Ammaron told young, 10-year-old Mormon that he was “a sober child, and… quick to observe.”

And Mormon said: “I remembered the things which Ammaron commanded me.”

And Mormon wrote Ammaron’s compliment and commandment down, at least 14 years later. (Mormon 1:2-5)

Sometimes, it’s really hard to recognize our own spiritual gifts.

But I think it’s actually pretty easy to see the spiritual gifts, strengths, and talents that others have.

When we tell other people the gifts that we see in them, it can make a lifetime of an impression.

Especially to young kids.

So here’s today’s slightly uncomfortable challenge:

Tell someone, young or old, family member or new acquaintance, what spiritual gifts or special qualities they have.

And I have a feeling your words will never leave them.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post An unforgettable compliment first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

It seems like Alma was a natural-born leader. The sons of Mosiah followed him, and he was able to convince many people that their parents had foolish traditions.

And then guess what was happening just a few short years later?

Alma the Younger used his strong speaking skills to unite, baptize, and convert countless Nephites as their high priest.

It seems like he was a natural-born leader. Amulek followed him, and he was able to convince many people of the errors of their ways.

He had talents. Innate, God-given talents.

But it was up to Alma how he used them.

What talents have we been blessed with?

Speaking, writing, teaching, listening, helping, knowing what others need, leading, getting things done, creating, making friends, solving…

Are we using these talents for good?

Are we using them for evil?

Or… are we not using them at all?

The world needs what we have to offer. God needs us to grow and develop what He gave us.

To build up the world.

To build up the church.

To build up our families.

To build up ourselves.

Because we matter, and the talents that we have matter.

And what we decide to do with them matters, a whole lot.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Leading and speaking with power first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.