Reverence

Today I asked myself why is reverence so important? Some places - both religious and secular - go to extreme lengths to maintain reverence. Certainly, anywhere that you are asking children or adolescents to be reverent it is going to be a lot of work. I know that it is worth it, but I wanted to write down some thoughts on the subject.

I think an okay definition of reverence could be the appropriate respect for where you are and what you're doing. Obviously, someone who is at a cemetery shouldn't be loud and obnoxious, just as someone who is handling a firearm should be careful. To show adequate respect to God or His House I think we should also recognize that He knows better than we do and that we need to seek knowledge from Him.

The reason reverence is so important is simple - it facilitates communion with the Holy Ghost which will instruct and purify us. The still, small voice is very difficult to hear if we are irreverent.

I think about the Nephites to whom Christ appeared after His resurrection. They had to hear the Father's voice three times, and on the third time they only understood because they "... did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came." (3 Nephi 11:5)

I also consider the temples of our Church. To borrow a concept from my father-in-law, praying in the temple often feels like a 'local call.' It is easier to receive answers to prayers and understand the Lord's will in the temple because His Spirit lives there. It can live there because of the reverence that abides there as well as the worthiness of those that enter.

I have often heard the idea expressed that God speaking to a person makes that person chosen or special, but I believe that our Father is constantly speaking to all of us - His children. The disconnect is on our end. Reverence will bring us a step closer to recognizing and hearing His voice more often.

Of the greatest moments of my life, many of them have been very quiet; if you were sitting in an adjacent room you wouldn't necessarily have known that anything was happening. In these sacred moments I was communing with my Father, receiving healing and understanding. I am not capable of sustaining these periods constantly nor forever - that is why I refer to them as moments. I believe that as I become more disciplined in my reverence I will receive more of them more often and benefit more from it.