“Reverence is more than just quietly sitting.”1 It is “profound respect mingled with love.”2 Reverence is an attitude of awe, honor, appreciation, and deference to the holy. It is reflected in the way we talk and think, the way we treat others, the way we regard sacred things.
Reverent people know that such an attitude brings feelings of peace, spiritual uplift, and closeness to the Divine. These feelings cannot be forced, but we can invite them. This truth was illustrated well when two little girls, active and full of life, visited the butterfly house at a zoo. Laughing and giggling, they jumped and grasped at the butterflies, but no matter how hard they tried, they could not seem to catch one.
Their teacher told the girls to dip their hands in a nearby pool of water and sit very still with their hands cupped in front of them. The girls watched as the colorful butterflies danced gracefully in the trees. Finally, ever so slowly, a butterfly fluttered toward them and landed on one of the girls’ fingers. While the butterfly sipped the water on her finger, the teacher explained to the awestruck girls, “You don’t catch a butterfly. You let it come to you.”3
Reverent feelings come when we quietly ponder and pray, when we respect other people and appreciate all of creation. Reverent thoughts fill our minds when we are grateful and loving. And then, in time, reverence becomes a constant, enduring part of our lives.
A wise religious leader observed: “Reverence is not a somber, temporary behavior. . . .True reverence involves happiness, as well as love, respect, gratitude, and godly fear. It is a virtue that should be part of our way of life.”4 Indeed, reverence is more than quietly sitting.
Reverence is acknowledging the hand of God every day of our lives.
Program #4003
1 “Reverence Is Love,” Children’s Songbook, 31.
2 David O. McKay, “Reverence,” Improvement Era, July 1962, 508.
3 See Marilyn Wood, “To Catch a Butterfly,” Friend, May 2001, 21–22.
4 Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball (1982), 223–24.