A Lesson Learned

Today, I attended a Sacrament meeting in a different ward in the Stake. I experienced something that I don’t recall ever experiencing. The bishopric was seated on the stand fifteen minutes before the meeting was to start. They were not talking back and forth, one to another. The ward organist was playing the prelude music — hymns of the church. Everyone was quiet (and there were children in the audience), listening to the music in preparation for the meeting to begin. As people came into the chapel, they quietly found their seats. There was no visiting back and forth. No discussions amongst the teenagers of what they did last night. No rumbling noise of conversations competing to be heard above the organ music. The only thing that I can equate it to is being in the temple chapel waiting for the next session. It was a distinct peaceful and calm setting of a group of Saints preparing for meaningful worship. It was amazing and spiritually uplifting.

The point of listening and preparation was further emphasized when I attended our Sunday School class. The teacher asked each of us to turn to the person sitting next to us and tell them three things that we did yesterday. When we were done, he asked how many of us had heard the large needle he had dropped on the table as we were talking? He said that he had dropped it three different times. He dropped it once more as we were listening and we could then hear it. The lesson was on recognizing and listening to the Holy Ghost — John 16:13.