Rock the Boat

A week ago in Sunday School, our teacher asked us when was the last time we wrote down a spiritual experience that we have had and if we have any experiences that we haven’t written down, but should. I thought about it all week long. What experiences have I had that I haven’t written down? Something I want to remember forever and want my children to be able to read one day. Something that maybe one of you all need to hear?

First off, I had one thing instantly pop into my mind that I haven’t been able to shake. Back when I was about 19 or 20, I’d go home in the summers and attend the singles ward with my brother. At the time, we didn’t really love going because we didn’t know many people, but I did make two memories there. The first thing was just funny. There was a man who bore his testimony and pounded SO hard on the podium saying something like, “Have you ever been so mad…” I don’t even remember what else he said, but he was passionate that day! The second memory is something that is so simple but so dear to my heart now. We would urge each other to go up and bear our testimonies. We called it “rock the boat.”

“Are you going to rock the boat?” We’d ask. “Only if you do it first.”

Those Sundays were good ones. And as Andy Bernard says, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.”

Then today, I was still thinking about spiritual experiences or memories that I wanted to write about when I realized one was enfolding right before my eyes. It was Eva’s primary presentation today, where all the children (there are probably 80 of them in our ward!) sit on the stand, each say something and sing all the songs they’ve been working on each year. Watching Eva sit up there as an almost 5 year old is touching, itself. To realize I have this real big kid who is brave enough to say a line into the microphone in front of everyone and to sing loudly, proudly, smiling and waving at me through the whole presentation… it’s just incredible. I’m truly blessed. But there was one song that stood out, and specifically one verse that sincerely touched me.

We have been saved for these latter days

To build the kingdom in righteous ways.

We hear the words our prophet declares:

“Let each who’s worthy go forth and share.”