They magnified every calling they had, going the extra mile, throwing in extra service, spending all their extra time on it. The message to me was clear: This is worth doing. This is what matters: what we do for the Lord's people, in the Lord's name.

But only certain kinds of ambition are right for the church. And some are hopelessly wrong.

• COMPETITIVE AMBITION, for instance. This is the kind of ambition that makes you focus on a rival; success consists of doing better than the other guy.

This can work in athletics, during a single race or a struggle to catch — or intercept — a pass, or snag a rebound. Beat the other guy.

But what does it have to do with the gospel? There is no place in the gospel where we rise by beating somebody else. Competitiveness is the enemy of godly ambition.

• DRAGON AMBITION doesn't work for Christians, either. This is the desire to keep gathering to yourself all the symbols of success — money, power, followers — long after you've achieved enough. In fact, dragons don't have any concept of "enough."

But in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have a calling only as long as we have it. When we're released, we let it go.

• Others have CAREER AMBITION. They see their church callings as a constantly rising line, so any "lesser" calling is a setback.

They set their sights on a lofty church office, forgetting that whoever would be greatest should be the servant of all.

Then, when they reach an age where it's clear they never will have the calling that meant "success" to them, they are bitterly disappointed and feel like they've failed. But if they served well in all their callings, however humble, they certainly did not fail the Lord!

When as a youth I became a deacon, I was called to be quorum secretary. I brought a notebook to every quorum meeting and kept a record of what was discussed and decided, what lessons were taught, who passed the sacrament at Sunday School and sacrament meeting.

I was doing what I had seen my parents do with their callings.

After six months of this, it was clear to me that the adult leaders had no idea what to do with me. I would show them my work product, and they tried to pretend they cared, but I realized that nobody ever did the job the way I was doing it.

Of course that only encouraged me to do it more. I was the best! (Yes, that would be competitive ambition.)