Be the Best of Whatever (Wherever) You Are

Be the Best of Whatever You Are

by Douglas Malloch

If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill,

Be a scrub in the valley — but be

The best little scrub by the side of the rill;

Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,

And some highway happier make;

If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass —

But the liveliest bass in the lake!

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,

There's something for all of us here,

There's big work to do, and there's lesser to do,

And the task you must do is the near.

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,

If you can't be the sun be a star;

It isn't by size that you win or you fail —

Be the best of whatever you are!

My MTC District with Brother Ganaway

This is a poem that one of my MTC* teachers, Brother Ganaway, shared with my class. It really struck me when I first heard it, but I was never able to really articulate why it hit me so hard. Today, I think I'm beginning to understand.

I have been serving in Gallatin for nearly seven months now. That is not exactly a traditional amount of time for a missionary to spend in one area, but I just got the news this morning that I will be leaving Gallatin to go... somewhere else (I haven't gotten that tidbit of information yet).

A Movie about missionary work.

So, I have been spending a lot of time reflecting on my time in Gallatin. I have grown to love this place nearly as much as my own hometown. That is not to say that I haven't had my hard times, my preconceived notions about missionary work were (more or less) shattered here. I had expected to be bouncing from place to place, delivering the gospel of Jesus Christ to some grateful recipients and to some not-so-grateful ones as well. It was here in Gallatin that missionary work became what it is to me. It has been some of the greatest and hardest work I have ever done in my life. It has not been the amazing and absurd work that I saw in movies growing up. The thing I have really learned is that it's not always about calling fire down from heaven, in my experience it has been being there for some of Heavenly Father's children who needed me for whatever reason. That is the truth that I have learned in Gallatin,  God's work doesn't have to be enormous and unbelievable for it to be God's work.

Some absurd missionaries.

So that is part of what I have started to understand about this poem, and why it is so important to me. It has shown me that God has a specific work for me to do, and it doesn't matter if it touches a million people or just one person, it matters that I am here and I am doing it.

*Missionary Training Center