A House of Order

Since becoming a husband and father there has been a scripture that I have referred myself to with reasonable frequency. That is D&C 121:41, I will cut and paste it here just to go over it, "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned." Oh sure we all know that it would be great if all of our leaders would do this but that isn't the case and it isn't what I wanted to talk about.

Since I've been married and even more so since I've had kids I've had a problem with finding ways to get my family to church on time. Seriously this is the number one problem my family has. This problem has only been compounded by that fact that I have to work up until a half-hour before church starts. This usually consists of me coming home from work and finding my wife and kids still in their pajamas and me asking how is it possible for all of us to get to church on time with only twenty minutes before church. I'll let you know that we never make it. Over the years I've tried every possible idea that has popped into my head in order to "persuade" my wife to get up a little earlier or at least start the process of getting the kids ready a little earlier. I've called from work to remind her, I've left notes, I've just let it go, I've helped out, I've cried, I've spoken quietly about it, I've yelled about it, I've ranted about it, I've gotten the Bishop involved. Despite my efforts I still come home from work twenty-minutes before church start to find everyone still in their pajamas. Did I mention that we have the 11:00am session? Perhaps in this case I should quit trying to persuade her and start the part about long-suffering. The one thing I do know is that I shouldn't get upset about it.