We first sat on the front pew one Sunday when we still met at the old Clarkston Ward building on 7th and 11th in Lewiston. I was playing the organ and Steve was conducting the music, so we needed the kids close at hand. Somehow it stuck. Except for a few Sundays during the next 28 years, we lined the kids up on the front pew and "reverently" made it through sacrament meeting. Even after the kids were grown and gone, I still took my place at the left hand end of the front pew as I had always done.
Today as we visited the Clarkston 1st ward I was happy to see another young family spread out along the front pew. They were newcomers since we had left town. As I watched the backs of their heads from the fourth row, I noticed that their family was very similar to our own -- four boys and one girl. I'm glad their mom and dad sat with them on the front pew. From there they could easily look up and see the tears in the speakers' eyes as they bear testimony of the Savior. They can see the love in the bishop's face, and watch the priests preparing the sacrament. Of course they could see these things from the fourth or sixth or twentieth row, but often I have seen one of my children look up intently into the face of the speaker as the Holy Ghost bore witness to his or her heart, and felt grateful to be in the immediacy of the front pew.
Not everyone can sit on the front pew, but I'm glad we did.
1 comment:
Aw. It's the end of an era. I'm sure you're not the only person who noticed that a new family had taken your spot. You have so many old friends in that ward that I'm sure someone else noticed at first the emptiness, then the replacement family. :)
BTW I met your friends the Cains this weekend. :)
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