An Awkward Prompting

In his April 2015 Sunday Morning Session General Conference talk, Blessings of the Temple, President Thomas S. Monson told the story of a young man named Landon. In the story, Landon had just attended the temple, and while sitting in the Celestial Room, he felt impressed to strike up a conversation with another young man in the room, who appeared to be praying. This was an uncomfortable prompting to follow for a number of reasons. First, talking to a stranger is often awkward enough, even without other factors contributing to the awkwardness. Second, the temple is a quiet place, and the Celestial Room especially so; it's not a great place for holding conversations, unless you're conversing with God. And third, it's not usually polite or appropriate to interrupt someone when they're having a conversation with someone else, especially when the being they're conversing with is God. Considering all the reasons for Landon not to go talk to the other young man, I'm almost surprised that he did, but that conversation turned out to be exactly what the other man needed. In fact, it proved to be the answer to his prayer.

There may betimes in our lives when we feel prompted to do things that are outside of the social norm. We may feel prompted to do things that are awkward or embarrassing or that "just aren't done." In those moments, our wills are being tested. Will we then have the courage to follow a prompting, even when it's something we wouldn't normally do, even when we have no idea why God wants us to do it? Landon did, and it ended up helping a young man who had been struggling with a personal challenge. Being the answer to someone else's prayer is a terrific feeling. It's certainly worth the risk of feeling socially awkward.