Where are we? ..... Home.

About 15 minutes until church was to begin. Connor was squirming in the pew, past my reach, and being irreverent. He knows better. Connor is 5.5 years old and has attended church every week of those 5.5 years. 

 I took a deep breath bracing myself for a silent war with a five year old. Initiating silent reprimands...now. He was about four feet down the pew from me, and I gave him two good "mom glares" and I stiffly pointed to the empty space next to me. 

He gave me a mischievous side smile, and shook his head no. 

(I apologize for anyone spectating this scene, for they now hold obvious fear of ever crossing me, because my eyes could pierce any bystander's soul)  

I raised one eyebrow.....an honest/silent look of... "Excuse me????....No?" 

I resulted to my last silent, but most effective maneuver. 

I gave him a look out of the corner of my eye and brought by gaze to the front of the room, knowing I still held his attention. I gently placed my hand on my lap, and counted down using my fingers.... 3 fingers.... 2 fingers... 1 finger ...and he rushed next to me. 

I knew EXACTLY what he would do next. 

(He has used this tactic before. I have a great "mom war" memory)

He would sit down for 0.50 of a millisecond to appease my command, then go back down the pew to keep being disruptive where we would go through this whole scene again. 

(Only this time the glares I would give the next go round would have definitely have melted his insides.)

Knowing his sinister 5 year old plan which he has done before, I grabbed his small body the 0.25 of a millisecond onto the pew and hugged his body against mine. There was no escaping mom's death grip.

He squirmed and tugged against my arms for one second until he knew there was no escape. He calmed down and I fiercely whispered in his ear.

"Connor! You are not being reverent! Where are we?!"

"home."

Wait? What? My mind started swirling? He was supposed to say, "church" then I would go on with the conversation I had planned out in my mind..."yes... and how do we act in church?......"

But he didn't say that, he said, "home."

As my mind was in its stunned daze for three seconds, Connor said, "Mom, we are HOME, this is Jesus' house. We are His family. We. are. home."

There is no other word for the fact that I was beautifully shocked. 

Bless this sweet boy for listening to simple truths that you try to teach your children but you never think they soak in.

"Yes." I said, "We are home." 

He settled down, sat on my lap and wrapped his arms around my neck. I got instantly teary eyed before the meeting even started as I held one of God's children that has been entrusted to me while on earth.

Our church houses are one of the few places on earth we can feel a true sense of being HOME.

We need to constantly be seeking and striving to go "home" to our Heavenly Father.

We then sang for our opening hymn, one of my ALL TIME favorite hymns, "More Holiness Give Me." A line in that song says, "More longing for home." We need to be continually seeking HOME, and what we NEED TO DO to get back there.

No matter where we live, we can always find a sense of "home" in our church houses.  Our true divine heritage of belonging to our Savior should make us feel at "home." Our ward families, should give us a small sense of being "home." The scriptures, conference talks and prayers make us feel, at "home."

As you go through life, you might move many houses, or just a few, but those are merely houses, your true home is in Heaven. It's where we came from and it's where we will go when this time of testing and trial is finished.

I am so thankful my sweet boy taught me a beautiful principle that I was able to share during our testimony meeting today. 

We need to be longing for home and what we need to do to get back there. One thing we can do is go to church. Feel that peace and sense of belonging. This life is hard, but with the Savior at our side we can do it!

Some say, "I don't need to go to church, I never get anything out of it." or "I can study and learn more at my house than at church."

Wrong.

1. It's a COMMANDMENT

2. You learn what you seek. If you go with the attitude of "I won't get anything out of today", you won't learn a thing.

3. YOU BELONG THERE. Heavenly Father wants you there. It's His house. He wants you to feel welcome and wants you to make promises with Him there. 

4. It's a place where we can serve Him.

 When we go to church, we are home. We are with family and we are loved. It's a place of learning, praying, serving, understanding, and faith. We learn more together than we would ever learn by ourselves. When we go to church, we truly are going "home."