As we have been serving here in this beautiful Temple we have found that because it is small the excitement that the brothers and sisters bring to the temple spills over and fills the foyer and halls raising the noise level above what is considered reverent very quickly. Because the sweet people here are so friendly it happens any time there are more than a few people in attendance. We love having lots of people come to serve and worship here but we have that problem that disturbs the spirit necessary to be able to worship. We don't shhhush them but we do smile and whisper a lot. We find that the problem is expanded when we are short on workers making those who are here to work stretch themselves very thin to accommodate the patrons.
Bro. Graham Dunn, our Area Authority from England, came to visit us, to hear our concerns and give us direction. When we explained our predicament he asked, "what do you do when you have to be in more than one place at a time?" Our answer was that we find ourselves almost running to get from one place to another. He suggested that we ourselves, "slow down. Remember that it is good to let patrons sit and ponder about the things they are participating in." He suggested that as we slowed ourselves down it would rub off on the other workers and we would find the reverence increasing. That was exactly what I needed to hear. It touched my soul and I realized that my example has a much greater impact than my words do in every situation, even here.
No comments:
Post a Comment