I hope you had a nice Easter. We did. Dane and Lucy came to sacrament meeting with me and then we all went for dinner with some friends. The week is going well. I can't believe that March is over and April has begun. Only 5 more months...not that I'm counting :-)
I've been thinking a lot lately about people and about family. I always seem to get introspective around the holidays. Particularly holidays that have such significance for me. I have so many memories of Easter and most of them involve Sees Candy. I was a really good girl though and I did not indulge in any Easter goodies. I gave a bunch away to family and friends. But I stayed off the evil sugar.
I've been doing quite a bit of thinking lately. Dane and I have been reading "The Continuous Atonement," and it has me muddling through all sorts of feelings and anxieties. I've been thinking a lot about Sean and Steve and wishing they would read this book. I've been learning more acutely that Heavenly Father and Jesus don't require us to be perfect before we come to them, they just want us to come. It has taken me a long time to understand that. I wish more people realized that.
The other thing I've been thinking about is seeing people the way the Lord sees them. Understanding that everyone has a story and outward appearances can be very deceiving. I hate that too often we judge people by what we see on the outside without really knowing who they are on the inside. I came across a couple of stories recently that made them reflect on this further. One was published in the Washington Post a couple of years ago. It's the story of Joshua Bell, a world class violinist who agrees to an experiment with the writers of this story. You can read it HERE
He positions himself as an anonymous sort of starving artist in a Washington DC subway playing for tips during morning rush hour — that is, a starving artist playing for tips with a $3 million Stradivari. As he plays his glorious music, for which he earns millions, for which he has played for kings and queens, he is largely ignored. I stumbled upon this on Facebook, and as you might expect, there were hundreds of comments about how awful people are because here they were in the presence of musical genius and they neither recognized it nor would they take time to stop and smell the musical roses.
I, however, did not think the story was about how awful people are for not recognizing Joshua Bell or stopping to enjoy awesome violin music. Until I read this story I had not heard of Joshua Bell and I only somewhat enjoy violin music. Paint my collar blue.
That people don’t recognize a celebrity out of context is not surprising, especially a non-Hollywood celebrity. That the majority of people don’t recognize a famous classical musician is not surprising as the majority of people who can afford seats at the symphony are not the majority of the subway-riding working stiffs. That people won’t stop and close their eyes and sway and appreciate musical beauty as they are late to work is not surprising either, because if they get fired, how are they ever going to afford symphony tickets?
Recognition of celebrity or beauty out of context may have been the intended story, but I thought the real story was about how everyone you pass has a story — a tragic beautiful amazing heroic unique thrilling and wonderful story, co-written with a mighty creator.
Everyone you pass has a story that is out of context. The lady at church I often pass in the hallway that wears designer dresses and drives the Mercedes, who never makes eye contact or speaks to me even though her daughter is in my primary class, who makes me feel like she thinks she is better than me — she has a story. And if I knew her story, it might provide some context. It might change my perspective. I might view her differently.
The person who is 30-pounds overweight. The person who is always pulled together and volunteers for everything. The person who is a little too loud. The person who lets their kid wear shorts to school in January. The person who….
Or a story like the one found HERE (This one made me think a lot about Steve).
Everyone has a story, which in the subway station of life, is out of context. And no, I’m not suggesting that we stop and take in the story of everyone we pass, because then we would never have time for those trapeze lessons. But we can try to remember that everyone we pass has a story and that if we knew it, we would have the context to recognize the celebrity and beauty in them that God sees.
I think the problem is we get so busy with our own lives and our own stories that we forget to lift our head up and really look at who we pass by.
One of my favorite quotes by President Holland is:
“If we constantly focus only on the stones in our mortal path, we will
almost surely miss the beautiful flower or cool stream provided by the
loving Father who outlined our journey. Each day can bring more joy
than sorrow when our mortal and spiritual eyes are open to God's
goodness. Joy in the gospel is not something that begins only in the
next life. It is our privilege now, this very day. We must never allow
our burdens to obscure our blessings. There will always be more
blessings than burdens--even if some days it doesn't seem so. Jesus
said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly." Enjoy those blessings right now. They are yours and
always will be.”
I think some of the blessings are the people we pass. Imagine what the world would be like if we took the time to love instead of passing judgement and to listen and hear their stories. That's my goal for April. To trying and understand the stories behind the people I pass in life.
I'm really excited for General Conference!
Love you Mom!
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