Maybe I shouldn't be sharing this. Oh, well.
As many of you who know me know, I am a counselor in our ward's Primary. It's a fantastic calling, and I love those kids to pieces. It has been an incredible learning experience and well worth every minute spent in stress or agony. At least it was until Sunday. Let me expand on that.
Junior Primary sharing time went very well. The kids were fairly reverent, and the Bishop was even able to stay in there without pulling any hair out or going gray. We dismiss Junior for classes, and suddenly a herd of elephants enters the Primary room. Never in my life have I heard such noise in a meetinghouse. I had to go up to the front of the room for something and this kid (we'll call him George) starts shoving another kid (we'll call him Bill). Bill is sitting in his normal seat (the one he sits in every week). Apparently, that was no longer okay with George because George throws his body into Bill and starts grunting at him. As I turn around, I catch in my peripheral one of the counselor's in the Bishopric who has arrived to give us a reverence message. That's irony!
I pull George and Bill apart and say to George, "Do you need to go out in the hall and cool down?" His response, "I'M NOT GOING TO THE HALL!" Yes, he was yelling. So, naturally, I'm ready to beat the boy down, but I say instead, "Then sit in your seat and be quiet." George sits down and throws, THROWS, his scriptures to the ground. Had a foot been there it would be broken now.
The counselor sits down between George and Bill. Bill is looking a little nervous at this point, to nobody's surprise. Who wouldn't be? I get behind the pulpit to start sharing time and start by saying how disappointed I am in the reverence level, etc. The kids know I'm not happy. I look over and George has his scriptures open. I continue speaking, and then, you won't believe it. George rips pieces out of his scriptures and stuffs them in his ears. NOT KIDDING! This kid is tearing apart his scriptures so that he doesn't have to listen to anyone. Unbelievable! The counselor just calmly pats his back and talks quietly to him.
My thought - What are we going to tell the parents when they ask why his scriptures are now torn to shreds? I finished making announcements and go out in the hall to deliver a new manual to one of our nursery leaders. One of the dad's of our younger group is out there. He tells me that his little boy (we'll call him Johnny) was distraught over the fact that he wasn't there to give the prayer in sharing time and could we please use him as a substitute when someone else doesn't come. It would mean the world to Johnny to ask for his help.
This is the difference between Junior and Senior. Junior gets upset when they can't worship the proper way, and Senior throws the things that help us worship on the floor, tears the pages out, and stuffs them in their ears. Now you tell me - isn't that Primary precious?