Become the Change You Wish to See

 

(source: latterdaysaintmusicians.com)

Become the Change You Wish to See

    The field of social entrepreneurship has opportunities for contributions at many different levels.  While anyone can have a revolutionary, innovative idea, not everyone is cut out to be a social entrepreneur.  Additionally, without intrapreneurs/implementers, volunteers and donators, the work needed for social innovation would never get done.  I am reminded of the phrase “too many cooks spoil the pot.”  If everyone wants to be in charge, there is no one left to implement the work.  While social innovation can be exciting, and cause us to become energized and inspired to seek out opportunities to change the world, we must balance the desire to engage in service with creating opportunities for income and profit.  There can be a functional balance between serving the needs of a population through innovative programs and generating income for investors, stakeholders, and even ourselves.  Creating a program that helps solve a social problem while also building job and income opportunities improves life for everyone involved in the project.  True social innovation uses concepts such as micro-finance to develop self-sustaining solutions to social problems.  An example of this is Fabio Rosa’s work on providing electricity and irrigation to farmers in rural Brazil.  By building programs so the farmers could invest in their own future, he ensured long-term sustainable improvements which lifted the farmers out of poverty and dependence on government utilities (Bornstein, 2007, p. 22).

    While some may have the gifts necessary, the drive and ambition, and feel the calling to become a true innovator, others may find they have a different calling.  Jeffrey Thompson wrote of misconceptions, or “heresies”, regarding the nature of callings.  He identified five falsehoods people often engage in when discussing callings.

1.        “If You’re Lucky”.  This implies that with luck, you will receive and recognize your true calling.  We all have visions of a grand revelation, where we suddenly know exactly what our life’s work will be.  This is simply not true.  Doctrine and Covenants 58:27 instructs people to ““be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.”  While some mistakenly believe this only applies to work within the church, it is intended to guide us in all aspects of our life, including the work we do for sustenance.  Even the most humble occupation uses our gifts and can be a calling.

2.       “The One True Calling”.  We may have many callings within our lifetime.  Often as we look back we realize that each calling was a stepping stone toward the next.  Rather than waiting around for a thunderbolt to hit and guide us to our destiny, we should use our gifts to engage fully in each opportunity that arises, learn from it, and ponder and pray on what comes next.  For example, our prophets certainly did not start out as leaders in the church.  Each of them followed their own path to the priesthood, engaged in various callings, and worked in the community before being called as a prophet. 

3.       “Bliss Awaits”.  This falsehood implies that when you find your one true calling, you will experience pure happiness in your work.  I have a friend who would always tell me “do what you love, and the money will follow.”  At that point in my life, what I “loved” doing was photography.  I briefly followed his advice, sinking all my time and energy into trying to build a photography business.  Soon, I realized that although I enjoyed the work, it simply was not profitable and would require much more investment and energy than I possessed.  Quite simply put, work is work.  It will not always be fun or pleasant.  It will be frustrating, heartbreaking, exhausting.  However, if you honestly and energetically put forth your best effort the satisfaction gained by finishing a good day’s work generates a sense of happiness and “bliss.”

4.       “The Praise of the World”.  If you expect the world to stand up and applaud your work, you will likely be disappointed.  Additionally, seeking worldly praise is not a behavior representative of a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Mothers, you can relate to this concept better than most.  Our families rarely thank or praise us for the work we do around the home.  We lovingly clean, do laundry, cook meals, find lost shoes, bandage scraped knees, comfort sick children, provide support to a frustrated spouse, and fall into bed exhausted at the end of the day.  We do not seek or expect praise for these things, and this attitude should be applied in the workplace as well.  If we are performing service with noble intentions, the knowledge of a job well done is our only required reward.

5.       “Work Gives Life Meaning”.  While genuine service gives life meaning, work in and of itself should not be substituted for spiritual growth or pursuit of eternal blessings.  When we pour everything into our work, we must check ourselves for our motivation.  Keeping in mind that all we do should be with the intent of serving God will ensure that we are extracting the correct meaningfulness from our work. (Thompson, 2019)

    Brother Thompson’s writing inspired me, as I have experienced significant changes in my callings, gifts and work in the recent past.  I have caught myself basking in praise from supervisors and clients for my work, when I should have been humbly thankful and given that praise to God.  While my work is important, and I spend my days in the service of others, I need to maintain my focus on eternal goals and accomplishments, and how my daily work can help me achieve those goals. 

    Jeffrey Thompson wrote of the importance of keeping God at the forefront of our work.  By focusing on using the gifts He has given us to better serve Him and our brothers and sisters, we can ensure we are following His callings for us, and not engaging in the five “heresies” Brother Thompson identified in his article.  Social innovation provides opportunities to do this by identifying needs in communities and populations, then using our God-given gifts to develop innovative solutions and interventions which will build opportunities for our less fortunate brothers and sisters to improve their lives.  By keeping our intentions focused on service, honesty, and spiritual blessings we can follow God’s plan for us in the service of others.