December 16: Friendship
How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?
I don’t know if I ever talked about it on the blog (ok, looks like I mentioned it briefly), but I was once a member of a little church you may have heard of: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That’s right, this girl used to be an active Mormon.
Though I love the church and the people, and many of the teachings, I left because… Well, there are a million reasons.
I felt a lot of pressure as a member — To pay my tithes, to read the scriptures and pray daily, follow the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity, to immerse myself in my ward and stake, develop relationships within the church, and be a missionary of the gospel. I had also done some work in the temple shortly after I was baptized myself, and I felt a strong sense of responsibility to those people.
And while I’m not ready to return to the church (and I don’t know if I’ll ever be, really), I reconnected with a couple of friends — both converts, like I was (meaning we weren’t raised Mormon by our families) — who have kind of re-opened my eyes.
One of them is a long-standing member of the church, who was a real source of support while I was going through the missionary lessons. The other is a long-time friend who was only recently introduced to the church and baptized.
At lunch this summer, I heard for the first time how much they struggled as members of the church. How sometimes they didn’t want to go to church, or partake of the sacrament, or follow the gospel — And sometimes they actually didn’t. And as awful as it may sound, it has been very inspiring to see them struggle.
Once I started struggling within staying true to the gospel, I started feeling really bad about myself and my situation, and it became easier for me to give up and let myself drift away from the church. But my friends have shown me that it’s okay to make mistakes and that it happens all the time, and that if you believe in something it’s worth the fight.
And, really, these are life lessons, not church lessons.
I wanna know, how has a friend changed your life?
Ciao,
Tiera
Imagery via We Heart It
