Now, I'm not saying that is the BEST reason to go to church. It's definitely not! But, as I get older, I've come to realize that being dutiful or doing something out of duty is an underrated virtue. We will all go through periods of "I'm just not feeling it." This can happen in work, relationships, and of course, church. But if we push through those periods, we can get through them, and often realize how valuable that experience or relationship is to us.
A wise bishop once told me that his testimony wasn't some steady line that was always increasing. It zigged and zagged with a hopefully (eventual) upward trajectory. I've taken comfort in that during periods where I struggle with things. There are Sundays like today, where I go to church and even though it was a good meeting in many respects, I didn't have some amazing spiritual experience or uplifting conversation. Sometimes I struggle to feel like I belong in a church with a strong emphasis on marriage and children (I have neither, which makes me an outlier in my current congregation).
But, wisely or unwisely, I keep showing up. Sometimes it is duty that gets me in the pews, and that's okay. I'm hopefully slightly less grumpy about it than the lady I met on my mission. Eventually it leads me to serving and loving others, which I firmly believe is the purpose of the gospel/church/religion in general.
Note: I don't judge anyone who doesn't find duty a compelling motivator for church attendance or anything else. I'm also certainly not suggesting a Gospel of Masochism where we do things as unthinking drones or drudges. But, I am suggesting that duty can get us through the "not fun" part of something that is important.
I agree with your premise. The only caveat is that I wouldn't be apologetic about it. Life has its exciting and amazing moments when your heart skips a beat -- you see the David statue, you see a beautiful sunset or sunrise over the ocean (or over pretty much any place in Italy), or you get a promotion or raise at work. But particularly any human achievements are not possible without a lot of drudgery and hard work done out of "duty." I suppose another definition of duty might be the hard work necessary to obtain wonderful results.
ReplyDeleteThis is sometimes also called "practice." With apologies to Allen Iverson, one small anecdote on this -- a couple of months ago during March Madness, a TV commentator interviewed a couple of young girls who played youth basketball and were huge Caitlin Clark fans. The interviewer asked them what they thought, and they replied with wide eyes, we LOVE Caitlin Clark! But what they said next was what really impressed me. They said something along the lines of, we heard she shoots 200 3 point shots every day in practice, that's so amazing! I was impressed that these young girls comprehended at a young age that people like Caitlin Clark don't just show up at the game and drain threes and get big cheers because they are so talented. They understand that to do what she does, they have to practice hard every day. As the famous line goes, a passenger asks a taxi driver, "how do you get to Carnegie Hall?" and he responds, practice, practice, practice.
The good news is that if you do these drudgery things out of duty, there will be a payoff at the end. While not the roar of a crowd for most of us, it will be satisfaction at being able to play a Beethoven sonata or to counsel a large corporation on complex state and local tax issues or to see a young woman share a testimony of principles you taught her. That's worth all the duty" effort.