This weekend was General Conference. Jeff and I decided that since it was our last conference in Utah, we would go to conference at the Conference Center. We planned to attend the Saturday afternoon session by waiting in the standby line. Everyone that I have ever heard of who did standby got in...well, here is a story of some people who did not.
We woke up and watched half of the morning conference and then headed to Salt Lake with Jeff's brother, Chris. We had to park far away and walk quite a while with all the rush of the day. When we got to the line, we met up with my brother, his fiance, and friends who had already attended the morning session. We got our little number card-450 and 451. Then we waited, and waited, and waited.
Around 1:15 pm a nice gentleman walked up and asked us if we had tickets to conference. We told him we did not, and then he proceeded to give us four plaza seating tickets. Hmm...there were seven of us and only four tickets. We ended up giving the tickets to Brayden and Misty and their two friends. We stayed standby, only to get a text message moments later telling us that the seats were 18 rows away from the front!
And we waited. Yesterday, just seemed to be a lot of waiting. Finally, a man came and told us that there was no more room in the Conference Center. We quickly found our way to a small theater in the north visitor's center where we were 18 rows away from a projection of the Prophet.
As I sat there, I had the thought, "Man...our last time to go to Conference, and we didn't get in. We could have just stayed home and watched it on the couch." I was sulking in self-pity for a few moments when I realized what really mattered. We had spent time together as family and friends making memories of a time when there was "no room in the inn" for us. I thought of how Mary and Joseph must have felt when they needed a place to rest their heads. I then recalled a scripture in Matthew 8:20 of Christ talking to a scribe when he said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."
I realized quickly why it is so important to make room for the Savior in my life daily. There was no more room for us to attend the session. However, we were able to listen to the same talks and feel of the same Spirit as those in the Conference Center. Yet, am I filling my busy life with meaningful tasks or are these daily tasks taking the room of the Savior in my life? How He must feel when He has suffered for our sins and afflictions and then must wait for us to "find time to fit" Him in our busy schedules...sometimes not being "fit in" at all.
Along with this realization I was reminded of the end of the Joseph Smith movie when the father says to his daughter, "We do not need to meet him (Joseph Smith) to know that he is a prophet." I did not need to sit at the feet of President Monson to know that his words were the words of God. Technology has brought these apostles and prophets into our homes so that all can experience conference. So to all who watched conference in the comforts of their homes, listened in their cars, or who attended the session in person- the words are true wherever you may be and it didn't taking going to Temple Square to realize that.
Good reminder Kammie and I am glad that you were able to find the silver lining. I was at a temple dedication for the Mount Timpanogos temple. We were actually in Orem I think and the satellite feed went out. So we sat in the dark, wondering if/when it would come on. I was reminded that I didn't want to be left out of special significant things. I always wanted to "be there". So sometimes these disappointments remind us of what really matters. The feed came up pretty quickly, but that has always stuck with me. Love you.
ReplyDeleteJust think about it Kammie. If you had not introduced Brayden to Misty; Brayden, Chris, Jeff and you could have sat together in those wonderful seats. So all this is your fault. Dad
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