Hallelujah!
After thirteen months, I finally got to go back to church. This doesn’t matter very much to a lot of people, but as I sat waiting for the Sacrament to be passed, I literally wept. The words that filled my mind were, “Free at last! I am free! I am free! I am free! I have been attending church most of this time by Zoom, but, though a miracle, it just isn’t the same. I have been going to church every week, except after various surgeries, babies, funerals, and vacations since I was two years old. My dad had a picture of me trotting down the block behind my older brothers in my nightie determined not to be left out of Sunday School. I suspect that after taking my picture, he scooped me up and took me home again to get me dressed and fed before we joined my brothers for Sacrament meeting.
One of our hymns from my early childhood was--
Welcome, Welcome, Sabbath Morning Robert B Baird
Welcome, welcome, Sabbath morning;
Now we rest from every care.
Welcome, welcome is thy dawning,
Holy Sabbath, day of prayer.
Loving teachers kindly greet us
As we meet in Sunday School,
Where they labor hard to teach us
By the Savior’s golden rule.
I don’t agree with the churches who didn’t shut down during the last year as we fought the pandemic, because I think we need to care about those around us and protect them, but I understand them. Life and its hardships are easier to accept and survive with friends, family, and God by our side to comfort and help.
I had a friend many years ago, who lost a child to an illness. He started growing illegal Marijuana to pay for health care. When the child died, the marriage broke up and church going stopped. We all choose different methods to react and heal from tragedy, but I treasure the love and comfort I received from Heavenly Father and my friends, family and church to help me heal after the death of my own son. I hope that during this next year we will all grow closer and kinder as our world hopefully goes back to a closer rendition of the life we use to know.
