Out of effort comes strength

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Morning Session of the October 1983 Conference.

Here is a simple little statement that caught my attention from President Hinckley's talk:

I see the fruits of your faith, and I am grateful. I thank you for the energy you put into this work. I know that at times it feels burdensome. Some of it may appear unnecessary. But out of effort and labor comes strength, and out of service comes gladness.

It just made me think about how grateful I am for service in the church (and in the family, and any service, really). It's so easy to feel that it's weighing you down, and you wish you could just have a rest! Sometimes I think longingly of the time I will get released from my current calling (and it's not even a very hard one!). But I know that at that point I will just get a different calling—and (deep down)—I'm so glad, because I know how good it is for me!

I finished a project recently—something that took a lot of time and mental effort. It was satisfying to work on it, but hard, and I was working and working with the goal of getting it DONE! I was so excited for the end. But shortly after I finished…I felt kind of sad and empty. I realized how much I had enjoyed the effort. Although I had often thought wistfully of being done so I could "have more time"…I now realized that the things I often spend (/waste) little bits of free time on aren't very fulfilling! Certainly not in the same, big, satisfying way as this project was.

This quote reminded me that the same thing is true in so many areas of my life! I'm not saying all callings/projects/assignments are equally satisfying, and of course, like any other exhausted parent, I  fantasize about how much sleeping I'd do if I could do whatever I wanted! But I'm just glad that having a family, and being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gives me a reason to serve even when I'm tired and wouldn't necessarily choose to do it on my own. I'm glad Heavenly Father knows, and teaches us, the not-very-obvious truth that "out of effort and labor comes strength, and out of service comes gladness."