Nonverbal Communications

I think that I say this every week, but it was a good week with lots of good reading.  I was just reading along in a talk titled God Hath Prepared A More Excellent Way by President Kim Clark given at a BYU-I devotional on September 5, 2006.  The talk didn't seem to apply to me and I was kind of zoning out, just trying to hurry and finish it.  But then something did hit me.  He said, "Magnifying your calling as a home (and visiting) teacher at BYU-Idaho is an act of faith and love.  It is an essential step in your journey to become a true disciple of the Savior."  Not that I don't do my visiting teaching but lately it has become more like a chore, especially being a mom of 4, and going to school.  They have given me only one person to visit.  She is this super darling 95 year old Peruvian.  She only speaks Spanish and I don't know that my Spanish amounts to everything.  She is a shut-in so loves having people come to visit her, but she wants you to stay for a couple of hours.  I have little children so a couple of hours is hard for me to give up.  She also prefers us to come about 4:00 pm which is the absolutely worst time for me.  That is when everyone is home.  Her house is full of trinkets and my kids would be the biggest destroyers of her house.  Not to mention they give me a companion, who they said is hard to get a hold of and is very busy.  That was the icing on the cake.  Well she turned out to being a great companion and helped me get there when I was finding all the excuses in the book not to go.  Unfortunately she has moved and I'm back to my same dilemma.  I need to raise the bar in my visiting teaching.  I need to see this as an opportunity and a blessing.  I do love going once I get there.

Another area that I can raise the bar is in personal appearance.  President Clark quoted Elder Holland by saying:

. . . choose your clothing the way you would choose your friends—in both cases choose that which improves you and would give you confidence standing in the presence of God.  Good friends would never embarrass you, demean you, or exploit you.  Neither should your clothing.

 

. . . from ancient times to modern we have always been invited to present our best selves inside and out when entering the house of the Lord—and a dedicated LDS chapel [and I would add, the Lord’s university] is a “house of the Lord.”  Our clothing or footwear need never be expensive, indeed should not be expensive, but neither should it appear that we are on our way to the beach. . . . We should be recognizable in appearance as well as in behavior that we truly are disciples of Christ, that in a spirit of worship we are meek and lowly of heart, that we truly desire the Savior’s Spirit to be with us always.¹²

     I love this quote from Elder Holland.  President Clark has noticed that the dress code for today's world is jeans and t-shirt.  I admit I really like wearing jeans and a t-shirt as well.  But he thought we should dress it up a little.  We should dress nicer so that we can be a better disciple of Christ.  We can represent him well.  Well for years I have created some bad habits.  With 4 kids, trying to get out of the house on time is quite a challenge. I sometimes manage to get dressed but most often I have to just run out in my pajamas.  My thought is that I will come home and take a shower.  But then reality sets in.  I have to hurry and get all the errands done before nap times.  Then by that time in the day, there really is no point in taking a shower because then I'm onto the afternoon rush hour.  I need to raise the bar in my personal appearance.  I should strive for more than jeans and t-shirt and I should be better at laundry so that my shirts don't have stains or holes in them.

Communications are 93% nonverbal  We make an impression with our clothes that we are wearing, our facial expressions and body language.  With that being said let's be a good example, a disciple of Christ.