I always love going to church with my parents. And the rest of my family. Because those are the times when I realize, though I'm usually reluctant to admit it, that Centerville truly is home. That no matter how much the congregation changes--no matter how often people move in and move out, change callings, or how much their families grow or shrink--it is still a place where many people know me. And these are people who have known me since before I could walk. Or talk.
And they have a great deal of faith in me. More than I have in myself.
It is also a place where I have multiple surrogate mothers. Where the reminiscing takes a very, very long time to get old because there a lot of years to cover. It's a place where the woman conducting Relief Society doesn't have to ask my name to introduce me, because she already knows me. Where they don't judge me if the speaker is boring and I have no attention span, because a lot of them don't either.
Of course, things aren't exactly the same. Three of my siblings are married. My sister has three children. And I've reached a point where it's odd for me to be in a family ward. There's, you know, noise, during sacrament meeting.
But it's nevertheless a place where I learn. Where people love me. Where the Young Adult Sunday School class is half life stories (of the most highly entertaining variety) and half doctrinal teachings. It's a place where it's not only okay to laugh, laughing is encouraged.
Because that's what it's all about, people. 2 Ne. 2:25. We are that we might have joy.
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Yeah... Home. Home is always comfortable. I have a ward where I spent most of my life, and yeah. It's nice just knowing people... I may not even really like some of the people. But we've known each other since for so long, we can't help but get to know each other.
You can't always stay there, 'cause we birds eventually leave our nests. But it's always nice to know you can have somewhere you can go. Somewhere that's home.
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