This past weekend was Stake Conference for our church. For those of you who may read this and are unfamiliar with this term, it essentially is a large public group gathering of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints or Mormons. In our "Stake," the units span from Rockland to Farmington, from Lincoln to Machias. Most people are traveling more than an hour to make it to this meeting. The people who do make the journey are those who know the blessings that come from attending such a meeting. Not only is it great to be around such a large body of people who think and feel similarly as you do towards such a sensitive topic as religion can be, but conference is also a place to hear some of the more powerful speakers and leaders in our area give us counsel that we need, specifically in this area, at this time. In the local leadership of the Stake are two gentleman that I have come to have an immense amount of love and respect for. Getting to hear their words and what they felt that we needed to hear was awesome.
Once the conference was over, I felt the need to find the two men and thank them for their words. However, I'm not the only one who has such feelings of love and respect for these two. Getting to these men after the meeting was like a salmon swimming upstream. Everyone is either trying to leave, or has already made their way up to the front to speak with them first. I figured that I would be patient and wait near the back where they would likely be exiting, hoping to catch them before they left. While I was waiting, I was overwhelmed by the amount of people that came up to me and either gave me a hug, asked me how I was doing, or would give me some undeserved compliment. Needless to say, I felt more loved in that span of about 20 minutes than I had in a long time. Most of these people gave their condolences towards my impending divorce, of the which I had no idea where they heard or that they cared. Long story short, it really made me wonder if I have had that kind of impact on the people around me? Do people feel uplifted and loved and cared about when I talk to them? Do they feel inspired to be the best person they can be? Or do people feel ignored? Do they feel neglected? Am I too focused on myself and my problems to compliment them on their beautiful families or accomplishments, or on their overall personality? That's why I have decided to be that person. I want to be that person who people are excited to see. I want people to look forward to being in the same room as me simply because they know I will lift them up and make them feel better. The world is already a better place because of these people and I want to be one of them.
And that brings me to the reason of why I am getting back into blogging and I want to be more consistent with it. One of these such gentleman asked me why I hadn't written in my blog. I was actually quite shocked because I had not spoken to him in quite some time and had no idea that he knew about my blog. He said that he was a fan and missed my posts. Even if its just one person that can be uplifted or edified, or helped in anyway from my words on this blog, it is worth it to keep writing.
I still intend for this blog to be a place where I can share my testimony with people. I also want to be able to share stories and experiences that I am going through which others may be able to relate and gain strength from. In closing, I want to thank this person (He knows who he is) for reaching out to me and making me feel special. Not for just making me feel special, but for truly making me feel valued and worthwhile. And thank you all, the silent majority, who hopefully enjoy this blog in your own private way.
