Our ward building is constructed in such a way that the Relief Society room is off to the left of the chapel down a long hallway, and the Primary room is off to the right down a similar long hallway. If you’re in one room and you want to get to the other, the quickest way is to cut through the chapel or the cultural hall—otherwise you take a long circuitous route down and around, which takes quite a lot longer. Consequently, persons like me who have children in the Primary room and also want to attend Relief Society will take the short cut. As there are no wards after ours, the chapel door stand open and the room is unoccupied.
As the mother of four children, one of whom is three and is every bit as frisky as you might expect a three-year-old to be, I don’t often get to just sit and enjoy the spirit that attends sacrament meeting. I’m usually too busy trying to keep feet off chairs and crayons out of hands until after the ordinance, scowling at one child and making frantic hand movements at my husband to tell him to keep the other child from ripping the hymnbook. He generally misinterprets those hand movements and thinks I want him to hand me a diaper, but the point is, I don’t often appreciate the sanctity of the chapel.
We have been asked to treat our chapels with more respect, to keep our voices down and to act reverently while we are in them. Last Sunday, as I cut through the chapel to go check on my children in the Primary room, I had the opportunity to really sense the majesty of that room.
No one else was there but me, and as I stepped inside, I felt a hushed warmth enter my soul. I looked up at the podium and saw the light coming in the windows, and I knew that the words which our inspired leaders utter from the pulpits of our Church are true. All at once, I felt so grateful to belong to this church, to know of the living and resurrected Christ, to know of Heavenly Father’s love for His children, and to have such a beautiful building to attend every week.
I know I won’t always be able to sit reverently in my meetings. Far too often I’m wrestling a child and refereeing fights between two of the others. But how grateful I am for those few seconds of quiet in the still of the chapel, to be reminded of God’s grace to each of us and to feel the quiet power of His hand. I will always remember that moment and pray that I will be able to teach my children just how important it is that we reverence the sanctity of our chapels.
Related Blogs:
Your Preparation for the Sacrament
We Should Be a Reverent People