"We Invite You to Be Reverent"

I learned a few things at General Conference over the weekend, mainly of inability to follow simple instructions, first, my own. The hardest part of the whole experience was definitely that conference is in Salt Lake City, and I am in Overton Nevada. Therefore, in order to attend, I had to put myself through 5 hours of I-15 northbound. Luckily, I had a buddy to do it with. Unluckily, that wasn’t the end of my driving woes. I-15, though long, is easily navigable. The Salt Lake Valley is less so. I know, to those of you who live there, I am wrong. Utah is the easiest place in the world to navigate. Unfortunately, I’m right. It’s hard to get around up there. Mostly, I’m sure, It’s hard for me to get around. I have the worst navigation skills of anyone I’ve met, and it doesn’t help that there are so many ways to use the same numbers in so many different combinations in street names. I arrived in Salt Lake city and lost my way to the conference center to drop off my copilot. I then adopted a new copilot, my iphone, to help me find my next destination. Unfortunately, here I must reiterate. Even when perfectly clear, I have trouble executing directions. One might say I’m “directionally challenged.” I do, for sure, and I am not two.

But in the spirit of prayer and accidental fasting, I made it to conference! Exclamation Point! I found great parking. I took a nice walk. I enjoyed the weather, I acquired some tickets. I waited in line, oh so near the front, and I saw the prophet. Shortly after seating myself on the front row of my section and reviewing Mosiah 2, I was ready to go, and instructions were displayed on… that thing they project the conference on for those, like me, who couldn’t sit in the first 10 rows.

“We invite you to be reverent.” Read the message, “your conference experience will be enhanced by taking your seat and quietly meditating,” or something like that. The point was, “we invite you to be reverent” it will help you feel the spirit and make your experience here better. Better is Better! But no one seemed to know how to read. They talked on their cell phones. They snapped photos. They talked. Perhaps they needed a wiggle song to help them settle down. Now, don’t get me wrong. Had I not been alone, I would probably not have noticed this. I would have joined them. I’m sometimes a social moth at all the wrong times and places. I’m not the most observant person in the world. However, I didn’t have many options but to accept the Church’s gracious invitation for reverence. And you know what? I certainly do.

I know that reverence enhances conference experience. In fact, I know that reverence enhances life experience. We run around too much. We talk too much. We have not enough “take your seat” time. Careful meditation is a lost practice. I’m all for loud, but we need not forget time for quiet. Quiet time clears the mind and calms the soul. It opens the window to inspiration. I was certainly helped when I took a few moments to pull over, reset my map app and reorient myself. Silence is sanctifying. So take some, on the house. You might find some groovy instruction. Consider yourself personally invited.