Ordained Priest and Teacher

Late last night I saw Brigham furiously procrastinating the writing of his first sacrament meeting talk that he was to give today.  This morning I saw the same thing.  As parents we encouraged, we cajoled, we informed him of the time and all the things that needed to happen.  Our efforts were to no avail.  He surfed the internet and seemed to be reading his scriptures but really, in the end I'm not sure what he did for those several hours.  So at 10:30 this morning I sat him down and threw the "Charity is the love of Christ" scripture up on the screen.  I talked to him about it and gave him the gist of what he would need.  I taught him a few basics about how to teach that scripture and then I left him to think about it for the next couple of minutes.  But then it was time to go.

We jumped in the truck and drove to church.  We got there at 11:05 and waited in the young men's room while the bishop ordained several other young men.  Meema, Buhpa, Grandma Susie, Paul, Ava, Stella, Chris, Alicia, Bryton, Boston and the Blondies were all there.  It was quite a showing, one for which we were tremendously grateful.  Brigham and Mackay were shortly ordained to the offices of Priest and Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood by their dad and given a blessing.  Adam, Chris, Buhpa, and Bishop Moulton were all in the circle.

Then we went into sacrament.  Mackay dutifully prepared the sacrament table and the trays of bread and water for the whole ward.  Adam showed him the ropes and it was a pretty special shared experience.  Then he went to the door and warmly welcomed everyone who entered the sanctum.  

We never have any more than two people bless the sacrament in our ward; usually because we just can't get that many to show up on time.  But today we had three brand new Priests who all wanted the experience.  So Adam joined them, just to make sure they were all comfortable.  Brigham, Amani, Caleb and Adam each broke a tray of bread and they all performed admirably.  It was quite a thing.  For me personally, to stand next to my son and bless the sacrament, I will never forget that moment.  I was very proud of him and who he has become in the last 15 years.  

In the pews below, I later learned that his mother also noted the moment.  When BG knelt down to bless, she began to cry.  And according to David she cried for nearly the whole passing of the sacrament.  She's kind of a softy.

If that had been all, it was already a big day.  But then Brigham was introduced as the youth speaker and gave a talk on Charity.  His lead in joke was kind of funny, his follow up explaination of his deliberate procrastination was sharp because it was so true and his explaination of how a certain scripture was "the OG" and then what that slang means for all the old people in the congregation, was pretty solid.  His mother turned to me at that point and said, "you know that he's your son, right?"  

But then something magical happened, like I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself.  He started to teach that scripture in the exact same way I had taught it to him that morning.  Like almost word for word.  Seriously.  Now, I know that this doesn't seem like much, but hear me out.  If you had been in that room this morning and seen the teenage angst, the far away look, the utter lack of interest, the stone-cold-I-don't-care gaze you would not have believed that a word you were saying was heard either.  And yet it was.  All of it.  It was nothing short of amazing.  

Later, after the evening Come Follow Me lesson, Buhpa told me that they hear more than you know and it's in there.  I wouldn't have believed him before, but now Brig has thrown me for just enough of a loop that I don't know what to think.  

The funny thing is, for as frustrating as I found it to have a son that procrastinated and was more concerned with his lead-in joke than the content of his talk I saw a bit of myself in his behavior.  Back when I was his age in my little ward in Blytheville Arkansas, I remember telling my mother 15 minutes before sacrament that I was supposed to give a talk myself.  I'd known about this assignment for weeks and had even made a half-hearted effort to pull something together.  Then, the morning of, she asked me how I was doing and so I fessed up that even my opening joke wasn't that good.  She sat in the truck in the parking lot before church, furiously writing out my talk for me - because I was an idiot - and then watched as I read a talk that I'd never seen before.  She was so exasperated with me that during the rest of sacrament she wrote a letter to her Dad explaining how exceptionally talented and dumb her little absentminded professor was.  I know this because she later read that letter at my going away for my mission.  I suppose that for as much as things change, they all stay the same.  

Today was magical.  It was a blessing from our Lord above to participate in such great family events and to be the parents of these three boys.  I'm blown away by the support they recieve from extended family and our little ward family and hope and pray that they know how much we love and appreciate each of them.  These boys do not become who they will become without their influence.