My life experiences have brought me to where I am now, and I am grateful for all of them. Has life been easy? No. Not at all. Has life been going exactly as I planned while growing up? Nope! Not even close. Is it better than I could have ever expected? Yes. Definitely. No question about that. One of the greatest experiences of my whole life was the two years I spent as a missionary. I met so many wonderful people, and grew so much. Much of who I am is because of those two years. Some of my favorite people on this entire planet are people I met during the mission. I love everyone I met and I feel so blessed by those wonderful people who are still in my life.
Today I had the glorious opportunity to spend the afternoon with a couple of people from my last area in the mission. It was absolutely glorious. Five and a half years have passed, and spending time with them made it feel as if no time had ever passed. I felt so much love, so much joy, and so much happiness just spending time with them. They were here looking at schools, and we had the chance to take a tour of Temple Square. I have never taken a tour of Temple Square before with the sister missionaries, and it was very good. Having lived in Utah my whole life I felt like I knew a lot of things, but I learned SO MUCH. For example, did you know that in the Assembly Hall there is NO marble? The benches and the pillars are made of WHITE PINE. The wood is super white and so the pioneers HAND PAINTED EVERY BENCH to look like oak. The pillars? Yup, they are made of white pine as well and painted them to look like marble as well. That was absolutely interesting and I felt super blessed to have this opportunity to learn and feel the spirit. I take for granted the blessing it is to live here so close to Temple Square. The reaction of these two seeing the temple up close was contagious joy, and I am so grateful for this opportunity.
We had ice cream and walked around even more and just talked. It was great to hear about how the ward is doing, their experiences in their new ward, and to feel the love that is there. It has been five and a half years and I am still in touch with people, and it brings me so much joy. Well, we were sitting and talking and then out of nowhere a conversation started that filled me with so much emotion. I am just going to summarize basically what the conversation said. "Kevin, I just want to tell you something. I want you to know how much I am impressed with you. You are brave and loved. There are so many people who love you, and who you are attracted to doesn't change that at all. Heavenly Father knows and loves each and every one of His children. Each and every one of us have different things we go through in our lives, and YOU ARE NEVER LESS than anyone else. You are just as important as everyone else. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you aren't as good or as worthy of love than anyone else. You are brave. You are loved. Your Heavenly Father loves you and knows who you are, and He loves you just as you are. I am proud of you. We are all proud of you and impressed with your courage and with the person you are. You are a good person. Stay strong in the gospel. Never go away from it. Stay strong with it. Keep your testimony strong. It is difficult. It is challenging. It may be frustrating. But it is worth it. Your Heavenly Father will prove the means for you to be happy, and to find fulfillment. DON'T EVER LET ANYONE TELL YOU OR MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE LESS THAN ANYONE ELSE! You are beautiful, wonderful, and perfect the way you are. You are no less than anyone else."
Well, of course I started to tear up and lots of hugging happened. This was such a beautiful thing to be told, and totally unexpected, but I think that it was Heavenly Father speaking to me through my friend. "You are no less than anyone else." This phrase is powerful, and I think that it has deeper meaning that the surface level, and something that I needed to hear. I am no less than anyone else. I am no less because I am not married. I am no less because I am not skinny. I am no less because I don't find myself attractive. I am no less because my skin is ridiculously gross looking. I am no less because I have a tattoo. I am no less because I am not straight. I am no less because I don't know anything about sports (even though I am trying to learn with the help of a dear friend). I am a child of God. I am His son. I have potential. I have many opportunities ahead of me. I am no less, and neither are you. If you are reading this blog, I want you to know the same thing. YOU ARE NO LESS! You are important. You are loved. You are valued. You have a couple of people in your life who love you, care about you, and want you to be happy. Our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us, independent of anything. We are all worthy of His love no matter what we do, what we choose, or what we desire. You are worthy of His love as you are right now, right in this very moment. He is thinking about you in this very moment and is mindful of all of your successes, victories, positive things, as well as your fears and heartaches. The next person who loves you is the Savior, Jesus Christ. He loved us enough to come down to this earth and atone for us. He suffered for us so that He could be here with us in every moment. None of us are ever alone. The last person I want to talk about is myself. If you have read this post, I want you to know how much I love you. I love you for taking time out of your day to read the ramblings of a crazy person. I love you for the person you are. I am grateful for the impact you have had on my life. Whether you know it or not, you have had an impact in my life and I am grateful for you and love you.
I am no less than anyone else. You are no less than anyone else. NONE OF US ARE LESS THAN ANYONE ELSE! This was something that I needed to hear, and I am grateful for a friend who would be the voice of God speaking to me today. Life is great!
No comments:
Post a Comment