The Reverent Baby

Sometimes I feel like I spend a significant amount of space on this blog complaining about how naughty my boy is in sacrament meeting.

There is a reason for this. I can say--without a doubt in my mind--that sacrament meeting is the hardest hour of my week. My dear, rambunctious son makes that hour my crucible of fire. But because of my struggle, it is also the hour when God can bless and uplift me the most. It has the capacity of being an hour for tender mercies, which is what this blog is all about and why those stories keep popping up on my website.

Still, I often feel that I am disproportionately whiny about my son, who is actually one of my life's greatest joys. I feel like I am doing him an injustice, putting up on the web how he kicks and pees and shouts in church when I never write about the way he smiles and plays and sleeps and touches my heart at home.

But today that all changes. Today I want to share how mild and agreeable my son was in church this past Sunday.

Soren and I went to church alone. Scott was home, sick in bed, leaving me to face my most trying hour alone. Or so I thought, in my melodramatic worrying. All alone; how would I manage all alone? I spent the drive to church bracing for the impact.

Which couldn't have been more unnecessary. I have never had so much help as I did on that Sunday. How could I have forgotten? We are never alone.

First, Soren's friend, Sequoia, and her family came to sit with us. Soren and Sequoia swapped toys and treats, enjoying the novelty of someone else's stuff. Soren shared his Book of Mormon pop-up with Sequoia and she lent him The Amazing Life of Jesus, with enough flip tabs to occupy him for the majority of the meeting.

That family was a tender mercy of my God, a timely blessing in my moment of need.

Then Amy and Kathy, my two baby-loving visiting teachees, came to sit behind us. Whenever Soren turned around and looked at them, they made silly faces and invited him into their laps. Thee change back and forth between rows was like a dream come true for Soren. He didn't have to be constantly attempting escape from his one confining pew; that escape was offered frequently and used up his need for constant movement.

I think that those women were prompted by my Heavenly Father to help me.

Finally, I felt like the Holy Ghost was there, aiding me, and that Soren could feel His presence like never before. I felt that God placed an invisible, calming hand on my son. He folded his arms and sat quietly for the sacrament prayers, a hitherto underheardof event. He sat in my lap and waved his arms to the music during congregational singing. And all his babbling was in a whisper, as though he felt the sacredness of the time and place.

I can only describe that sabbath day as a miracle. I got to hear the messages present, feel the sacredness of the ordinances performed, and enjoy the feelings of love and peace that can be present in our worship services. It seemed that even Soren could feel how special that time was.

I am so grateful that, once again, my loving Father made Himself manifest to me in during that sacred hour.