So I was talking with a dear, dear friend of mine the other day as we laughed over desserts, mine being a bowl of luscious mint chip ice cream, and his being an M&M cookie sandwich with just as much cookie dough ice cream inside of it as I had in my bowl, plus a sugar cookie. He slept all day, he was hungry. Anyway, we talked a good long talk and somehow the conversation turned into me kind of ranting about how sometimes you get this feeling that is best described as incredibly antsy! I told him sometimes I just feel like something is going to happen, something good, but I don't know what it is, and I just can't get my mind off of that feeling, even though I know there are other things in my life I should focus on. He told me he knew exactly what I meant and added a good tidbit about how it feels like everything in your life has been leading you to this one thing, whatever it is. This was reassuring, because sometimes it's just nice to know you're not the only one feeling crazy anticipation for the unknown.
Church today was about having compassion and having charity. The talks in sacrament meeting were really good, but the last talk in particular really struck a cord with me. The speaker was probably about 28 or 29. He retold a story of when he attended BYU about five years back, and he was having a conversation with several of his mission friends in front of the library. As they talked, an old man about 80 years old circled the group of them, staring at this man in particular, as if waiting for them to finish their conversation. When they finally did, the speaker approached the old man and asked him if he needed anything, and the old man replied he didn't, he just thought he knew him. So the speaker introduced himself, they swapped information (turns out they didn't know each other), and they grew to become great friends. The old man lived in St. George, so every time they were in each other's necks of the woodses, they would stop by and chat for a while. The speaker went on to talk about how the Lord really uses us as instruments in His hands. His work of compassion will continue to go forward, whether or not we jump on the band wagon.
In Relief Society, the whole lesson was on charity. I really enjoyed this lesson!! It was from a talk by President Monson from last Conference, from the General Relief Society Meeting entitled Charity Never Faileth. The woman giving the lesson has been through her fair share of rough times after losing a son about 8 years ago. Her other sons have had their own different struggles as well. As we read through different parts of the talk, the discussion turned into more of a why-we-shouldn't-judge discussion, and it just got the wheels in my head turning. Toward the end of the class, the teacher read this quote from the talk:
"Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down. It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others."
After she read that, I felt like I had been hit over the head by a dumbbell! I had never though of charity as choosing to not be offended, but it makes perfect sense! When we choose to get offended, we drive out the ability to feel love for that person. Choosing to take offense is another form of judging, which is the opposite of charity. Most of the time, no offense is meant when offense is taken. We're human beings. We are imperfect, and because of that, we say things that are meant one way, but because of one thing or another, they are just taken completely wrong.
This whole thought process took me back to about 9 months ago. After I got divorced, I was so fearful that everyone was going to judge me, say mean things, and look at me differently, but after talking to my mom, she told me that I should look at it as a good filtration system. Why would I want to be with people that judged me anyway? They didn't understand the circumstances. They didn't understand all the pain I went through. And if they couldn't respect my decision and trust that the Lord guided me in my decision, then I shouldn't be with them anyway. And from them on, I looked at it as a huge blessing!
It's just amazing to me how all the different aspects of the gospel connect and at the end of the day, everything comes back to Christ and His immense love for us. He understands us more than anyone, and not just me, but He understands you! Christ isn't physically with us, but we're instruments in His hands, and when we listen to the spirit, the things that He can do through us are unlimited. Never doubt what the Lord can do :)
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