Reverence

One of my biggest struggles of the week is making it through sacrament meeting. I guess this doesn't sound very good. My wonderful, happy, energetic 3-year-old boy loves going to church. He loves that we get to be together as a family on Sundays, he loves his sunbeam teacher, and he loves to sing! Ever since we moved into this new ward (about a year ago now) it's been a little rough during Sacrament meeting because he is one of the few young children , whereas in our Roseville ward, there were dozens. Nolan didn't stick out like a sore thumb like he does in our current ward Sacrament meeting. The first week we were there, I still remember how discouraged I was after the end of the meeting. Nolan was only 2 years old, but I knew that we needed to work harder on using his quiet whisper voice or we would be spending a lot of time out in the hallway. Adam and I have since then been working with him throughout the week on how we should act during Sacrament Meeting. Over the last couple of months, especially working with him on sitting still and not bringing out toys or games til after the Sacrament is passed. Nolan is learning, but still can't make it through the whole meeting without usually having to take a break out to the hallway for some reverent talk. I don't expect my 3 year old to be able to sit perfectly still without a peep during the whole meeting. He is still young and full of immagination. I have a hard time thinking of "quiet toys" to bring because for Nolan, everything comes to life and has something to say, whether it be at home or in the middle of the church meeting. :) I know I need to bring something to keep him busy though, or he would go crazy. I look for the ways Nolan is improving each week and try to let him know how proud of him I am that he is trying to be reverent. He may not always be using a whisper voice, but it's not his usual at home voice. Even though it is just baby steps, he is improving and that's all I can ask. There are definitely still weeks where it is a dissaster, I feel, and we go backwards. I definitely felt better after our ward conference earlier this year. The Stake President talked about reverence in Sacrament Meeting. I thought, "oh great, here we go." His words were comforting though. He talked about how our reverence in Sacrament Meeting should be on a personal level. We shouldn't let the young children who are being disruptive, for whatever reason, determine whether our meeting was "reverent." Of course if they are fussying loudly or whatever we should take them out. We need to remember why we are there and not let the disruptive children be the reason why we as individuals can't feel the spirit. The last couple of days Adam has had to work with an elderly man who needs 24 hour care. He's picked up this job with helping the elderly in their homes, so now he can receive a paycheck and help supplement our income with what we can't get from the catering business. This job works well with his catering business because they work with what hours Adam is available. He hasn't been able to come home the last couple of days, including today, so I was a little nervous about what might happen in Sacrament meeting today. My morning was off to a rough start, with Nolan being confused at why Daddy wasn't home yet and knowing I better be on time because I had to give the opening prayer in Sacrament Meeting. So, I got out the door in time, well, what normally would have been on time. Every time I try to drive to the Poet Smith building, I always get lost. I don't know why, I've been there a million times, but since Adam normally drives us to church I don't pay much attention. Of course, I made several wrong turns before arriving about a minute late. The pouring down rain did NOT help the situation!!! So, we come in just as the bishop is announcing after the song, he will give the...no, Sister Brice (now that he saw me) would give the opening prayer. I was telling Nolan on our way to church that I would need him to sit reverently while I went up to the front to give the prayer. I was a little nervous with how this would go, so I was very grateful when Nolan's sunbeam teacher got up to sit next to us. During the Sacrament song, Nolan got his hymn book and sang along. During the Sacrament, Nolan sat reverently with maybe 1 or 2 blurps. I was very proud of him. After the Sacrament, I let Nolan choose his toy to play with. He chose the Book of Mormon magnet characters. Of course, as usual, the characters came to life and each one had something to say. Nolan wasn't whispering, but I felt he was using a somewhat quiet voice, after a few shhhh s when his voice got louder. So far this was the best he had done. We always sit in the back, trying to be as little disturbing as possible. The next thing I knew, the lady directly in front of us turned around and said, "Are you NOT teaching this child how to whisper?" I said, "Excuse me?" I was a little blown away. This lady has had several children of her own who are all grown up and moved out, so she is older, but I was shocked! Did she really forget what it's like to have a young child, or maybe she was blessed to have perfect angels that never made a peep. I thought, how rude of her to step out of her boundaries and try to offend me. I was quite offended and could only handle sitting there another minute or so. I had to take Nolan and step out of the room. Nolan's teacher came out soon after to help me understand how untactful that comment was and that she had no right to say that. I was of course still upset about it and had a hard time getting through the rest of the day at church. I did eventually go back into Sacrament Meeting, making sure we were not directly behind the same lady. She did apologize, but I still am working at forgiving her. :) She had no clue, I guess! I may be a little extra sensitive, especially about this subject, but I realized how it would be so easy for someone to stop coming to church if someone was to say something like this to ANYONE, whether they were less active, or very active. Of course, I was not going to let her comment make me stop coming to church, but it made me feel bad for all the people who have been offended and have stopped coming. Some people just don't think before they speak and because of it we lose a lot of our members. We are a ward FAMILY and it takes everyone to be understanding and loving, whether they be young or old, in order for us to be strong.