Today as we are getting ready to leave for church, it starts to rain. I can’t believe it. I can’t remember there being a chance of rain in the forecast. Of course, the forecast has been so disappointing lately that I’ve been ignoring it. So out the door I go with 5 kids in tow so I wouldn’t be rushing. Ben was staying home to work (got to love merger work) and tend to Lance who is still not feeling well almost a week later (allergies). Not that I would be rushing anyway, since I have the programs so I get there at least 30 minutes before church starts to make sure those get out to people as they enter the chapel.
It stopped raining. Quite disappointed. Today is watering night so I was hoping that we’d be able to get away without adding to the repeat of another horrendous water bill like we had from last month. One like that is plenty. As we are pulling into the parking spot, however, the rumbling is getting something serious. The clouds were getting darker by the second. I told the kids to hurry and get inside. The bottom fell out of the sky shortly after we got into the building!!!
Ben said it rained here at the house for at least a few minutes with a heavy rain and then off and on steadily for a couple of hours or so. The same was true at the church. Often it raining one place and not down the street, so I wanted to verify if I needed to go turn the sprinklers on or not.
It was another noisy sacrament meeting. No surprise there. You’ve probably heard it all before. I am finding myself getting more and more angry during the last 20-30 minutes of the meeting. I hate to admit that, but it is the honest truth. Even today, I squeezed 5 kids and myself on one of the short pews and was impressed at how well the children could sit next to each other, touching each other, and still maintain a moderate level of reverence. It has nothing to do with age as far as I am concerned. It has to do with expectation and reinforcing it. We don’t practice reverence anywhere else. They get plenty of opportunity to repeat and try again the next week. There are just clearly defined expectations and requirements defined for each setting. At church we do this. At the library, we do this. At a restaurant, you do this. Each time we encounter these particular settings, we issue warnings and reminders beforehand if necessary and those expectations are enforced. I truly think this is what has worked best. It isn’t about being perfectly reverent. It is about getting it some of the time and not disturbing the reverence or mood for everyone else the rest of the time. Maybe we should look at it more that way?
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