When we got back to the foyer we saw Natasha and my other daughters listening to the speakers. Evidently my oldest daughter and my son had gotten into an argument. My son was trying to rearrange the hymnals which was loud and distracting, so his big sister tried to stop him. He threw himself to the ground and started crying. I spent the rest of the meeting in the hallways talking to kids and trying to get them to calm down. Each was convinced that there was nothing wrong with his/her behavior and that it was all the other's fault. I had to explain to each that both had culpability. By the time I and my wife were done, sacrament meeting was over, and I had been on my feet way to long. I am still trying to recover from a nasty infection, and my blood sugar was way out of whack. So when the kids went off to Primary, I went home to rest.
By the end I had not heard a single spiritual message so I started to think, what is the point? I know at some point in the future I will be able just to go into a sacrament meeting and enjoy the talks again without having to be a referee. Until then it is just important to keep going. It will show to the kids that the Lord is important to me, and I hope they get something out of it. I do believe that children are a heritage to the Lord, and He will bless all of us that are blessed with that holy calling even if it is hard to see that at points. Brigham Young once taught that the most important time to pray is when you didn't feel like praying. I think the same is true about church. It is most important to go to church when your questioning how much you all get out of it. I also believe our children get more out of it than we realize. So do we. In twenty years I might be able to look back at this time and see things I can't see right now.