It was an eventful day at home and at church. Mark left by 9:15 this morning and the rest of us stayed home to get dressed and get ready for our day. Mark was off to meetings and getting everything ready while at home...well let's just say it was a difficult morning. Actually, it was blissful until we started getting ready. One of my children wanted to wear casual clothing, another child wasn't feeling anything, and a third was complaining that what they were wearing wasn't supposed to look the way it did. It was truly a spirit of contention. At one point I actually threw out the "bishop" word and it went something like this, "can all of you just please get dressed and look nice? It is the first Sunday with Dad as the bishop and everyone will be looking at us. Can we just PLEASE represent well today?" It might have been said with a little bit more force than this is coming across... same words but I had to raise my voice because I was frantically getting ready in my bathroom and everyone else was down the hall when my youngest came into my bathroom complaining about her socks. That was the final straw.
A friend told me that something important to our family dynamic will be making sure our children have the ability to not be the bishop's children all the time. I have pondered this greatly and I think I already understand why. People come up to me and my children and assume that we know all the answers because our Dad is the Bishop. Or, people make comments about how we should act a certain way because our Dad is the Bishop. For this particular reason I felt bad about throwing out the "Bishop" threat this morning however sometimes it still is necessary. With that being said, I feel strongly that being the bishop's family means we should be who we always have been. Nothing should change because that wouldn't be true to who we are. We are regular people who love to serve and are devoted to our Savior and furthering His work. I want my children to have testimonies that are based on the truths of the gospel. I want them to act appropriately because they have learned the gospel principle of obedience and covenant keeping. This should be the case no matter who we are or what callings we currently hold. Sure, there will be times that we need to realize that we are being watched and make sure we are setting a good example, but we are still regular people. Speaking of identity, my husband came home tonight from his very full first day of meetings and said, "it's official, I no longer have an identity, I'm just Bishop. Not Bishop Leonard, just Bishop." ;o)
I was talking to my sister the other day and she told me that when her husband was set apart as a bishop they were counseled by their Stake President that this time of their lives would be a time of consecration. I can now see how that is possible. So, Bishop, and Bishop's wife, and Bishop's kids had a really nice day and survived week one. The ward is going to be so much fun and we truly have a lot of amazing people to serve with. We are going to see a lot of growth and development in the next five years and I'm excited for that change. Someone at church asked me how my first week went. I smiled and said it was great, only 260ish more to go. :D
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