melissaclee

I agree with all of you who have said that I should simply talk to my neighbors. I just wanted some feedback to whether this was normal behaviour within LDS culture that I was not aware of. I do not think my concern is out of pride and it is certainly not something that I let eat away at me. It does however make me want to second guess having my neighbors over in the evenings, hopefully a little chat with them will go well. I certainly do not want to hurt their feelings but I am sure that a chat will be better than avoiding inviting them over.

I am obviously not against praying, I think it is great. I think it would be wonderful to ask everyone to pray before leaving your own home, however in someone else's home, I feel like it is kind of stepping on toes and you giving an impression that you have some type of spiritual authority over that person. My Parents hardly ever have blessings on food or family prayer but I would never take it upon myself to lead everyone in prayer at my parents house. Because I would not want to undermine my dad's authority. I would just take my own kids aside and pray with them.

I don't really feel like I am being judged but it just feels really weird and kind of distracts from the spirit of our home. It kind of feels like they are acting like they have some type of spiritual authority over us. They are in their early 20's and about 8 years younger than we are which makes it feel even weirder. We love our neighbors and enjoy our association with them but them asking to leave with prayer does kind of make me second guess inviting them over. Maybe I should have my husband talk to the husband of the other family?

Okay so we have this really sweet family in our neighborhood. Every time they come to pick their kids up if we are doing a babysitting swap or we have them over for dinner or they are just visiting they ask if they can leave with a prayer. I am just wondering what other's thoughts are on this? Do you think their request is undermining my husband's priesthood authority in his own home? Is it a nice gesture or is it rude? I can understand this request coming from missionaries who are visiting or home teachers/visiting teachers but neighbors and friends, I am not too sure what to think.