Entitlement

Before you read this: I try very hard to follow the admonition to support/sustain my church leaders. With differences in personalities, this can be harder at some times than others. As I say this, I may undermine myself in the words that follow. I am still really trying. And I'm trying to apply the story below in my own attitudes and actions. This may be one of those situations that calls me to repentance later. I hope not.

Have you ever felt entitled to something that wasn't otherwise being assigned or given to you? Maybe your nursing baby woke every 1.9 hours in the night and you felt deserving a nap. Or, maybe you'd cut back on junk food all week and felt deserving of the last piece of candy left in the bowl.

What about the time you felt frustrated by a long, horrible day and snapped at your family members? Did you ignore the guilt by saying it wasn't your fault? (I don't actually know anyone who's done this, I'm just thinking up possible scenarios.)

Maybe you brought an extra large bowl of potluck to the ward dinner and decided it was payable in extra dessert. Or, maybe you'd just spent your Saturday morning cleaning the building with a couple other families and you KNOW you worked harder, so when you see garbage in the hallway the next day you decide it's someone else's duty to bend down and pick it up. (After all, you didn't even see it.)

We've all suffered from entitlement at some point. Kids are especially prone to it. Hopefully, as we get older and gain more understanding of life, we are able to have a little more perspective. I know there are some instances in my own life that I am working on.

Yesterday our stake held a special and unplanned (if you call less than 3 weeks' notice unplanned) Stake Conference. Elder Dallin H. Oaks was in the area for leadership training on Saturday and he chose our little stake to spend his Sunday with. Apparently, ours had been the area stake to go the longest without a visit from a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. So the stake began preparing for Elder Oaks' visit as well as President Kim Clark (BYU Idaho) who was accompanying him.

As nearly ANY member of the LDS church can tell you, having a General Authority visit is a big deal; especially an Apostle. The Stake was trying to prepare for a large numer of people and trying to decide how best to handle seating, parking, etc. Among other preparations made, was the decision to ban saving seats. And to go one step further, the outside doors would be locked until one hour before the conference would begin. It was emphasized from the pulpits: NO SAVING SEATS! Be in it or be in a different one.

Personally, I loved this rule. I HATE seat saving. I can't tell you how many times my little ones have gotten ready early and stood waiting outside closed doors only to be relegated to the folding chairs anyway because one sleepy teenager (times 20) is saving the entire row of seats for his family that hasn't even finished breakfast yet. The time this happened when I was pregnant was the worst; I had a lot of self-chastisment to do that time because I was steaming mad and not hearing one word of the talks!

Anyway, we arrived at the church yesterday about 20 minutes before the doors would open. Chad had to usher and was to be there 15 minutes early. The rest of us waited in the car. We weren't there very long before the lines began forming at all 3 entrance doors. I knew there was no chance of us really getting into the chapel and was trying to tell myself not to worry about the mad dash for seats. We were sure to get a place, even if it was in an overflow room. For this reason, I kept the kids in the van until about 5 minutes before the doors would open.

Since I didn't want to take up more space with a baby seat and bulky coats and didn't trust leaving the coats hanging in the appropriate areas (we lost a good coat at the Halloween party that way), we were staying warm until the last minute. It was about 20 degrees after all!

To make a long story shorter and less judgemental (I've revised this post so many times, it's hardly what it started out to be): someone who knew better saved seats for his family.

It will be interesting to learn how this affects his fellow ward members who will be back to regular routines and regular Sunday interactions with him next week.

Note to anyone trying to rise above the general masses: this is not a church of entitlements.

I HATE seat saving. But I admit our seats were nothing to complain about and I lost no energy over the situation this time. Any difficulty I had concentrating can be blamed on my hungry baby and restless cherubs. (And maybe the wiggly 3-year-old in front of me.) ;)