Reverence Invites Revelation

In sacrament meeting today, three people spoke about reverence.  It seems like such a simple topic; one that maybe many of us haven't thought about since Primary.  But speaking of Primary, the words of the Primary song should remind us that reverence is important for all of us, and not just rowdy children:  "Reverence is more than just quietly sitting; it's thinking of Father above.  A feeling I get when I think of His blessings.  I'm reverent, for reverence is love."  So reverence is a lot more than just being quiet and polite.  It is a way we express our love for our Heavenly Father and for things that are sacred.



This was actually an answer to the question I mentioned in my first blog post:  How can I get more out of prayer, study, and meetings?  The answer is reverence!  To really be reverent, we should be attentive and have an attitude of deep love and respect.  Otherwise, how will we be ready for the still small voice when it comes?  "Be still," Heavenly Father has told us, "and know that I am God" (Psalms 46:10).  Being still means being reverent!

The adversary doesn't want us to be reverent.  His tactics are sneaky:  before mounting attack, he'll first try to jam our communications with our Heavenly Father.  He knows that when tempted, we can turn to God for help, so he'll try to use noise to distract us from the Spirit of God.  These distractions can come from music, other forms of media, angry feelings, our hobbies, interests, etc.  Obviously, not all of these things are bad.  But if we never set aside some time to "be still," we won't have the opportunity to forge a greater connection with the Spirit to be able to receive guidance when we need it.

Finally, we can be more reverent when we pray.  I think to do this, we should kneel and pray vocally whenever possible and try to set aside all other irrelevant thoughts.  We should also clear worried or upset thoughts from our mind for the time being; doing so will fortify a sense of trust with our Father.  It is also good to pause for a moment before beginning to pray in order to collect our thoughts and think about what we are going to be praying for.  And closing a prayer, we should pause again to see what feelings we receive.  Remember:  prayer isn't just repeating a bunch of words and requests.  It's actually talking with our Heavenly Father, as if He were sitting in front of us, talking with us.  We should enjoy our prayers as much as a conversation with a dear friend.