It has been weighing on my mind as I struggle to come to grips with what I hear from my church leaders, and from what my heart feels. I write these thoughts only for myself. For my children. That in the future when they read this, they will know how their mother was feeling.
We are placed on this earth with a billion different people. No one is the same. We were put here to coexist and to love everyone. Just as our Savior did. All of us make choices, and it is not for us to judge, for we are hardly perfect. I am going to work on making myself a better person, rather than telling people what is right and wrong. It is my hope that we can all love each other, regardless of the choices we make.
From the beginning of time, words of the prophets have been hard to take. People have always had a difficult time believing hard concepts. The issue with homosexuality is a hard concept.
I live in Sugarhouse. I love Sugarhouse. It is a wonderful place where their is diversity all around. Everyone co-exists (for the most part). With the recent hate crimes that are taking place, I have been flabbergasted. How could this happen in today's educated society? Then I remembered what my friend said, who lives in Sandy. Just minutes away. Tolerance and comments are much different there, than where I live.
The gym I go to is full of gay men. My gym teacher is gay. I love him. He is one of the greatest guys I have ever met. He is a wonderful dad, a gentleman, patient, and sees the good in everyone. As I got to know him better through a friend, he put his arm around me and told me he loves me, even though I am LDS. I felt a rush of relief. I felt the same about him. Why can't more of society be the same. It makes me sad. He told me that he knows his classes are full of LDS members, and he wishes he could tell them, what he told me, that he still loves them. He wished more of our members would tell him what I told him, that I love him. Many do, but many do not.
I believe in the words of my church. It took a lot of prayer to get to this point. This issue has been one of the hardest things for me to understand. I still don't understand. But yes, I believe the apostles of the LDS church speak for God. I believe in The Family a Proclamation to the World. And that is all I know. I am choosing to stick to these simple beliefs.
We are placed on this earth with a billion different people. No one is the same. We were put here to coexist and to love everyone. Just as our Savior did. All of us make choices, and it is not for us to judge, for we are hardly perfect. I am going to work on making myself a better person, rather than telling people what is right and wrong. It is my hope that we can all love each other, regardless of the choices we make.
In the end, actions speak louder than words. It is by our actions that people come to know who we are, not by what we say.
3 comments:
Sarah, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I actually felt emotional reading what you've written. I have been thinking so much about this topic for so long now, and I'm trying to decide what, if anything, to write about it, so I applaud you for putting yourself out there. I felt your love for all people throughout this post, and I appreciate that about you.
Sarah,
I wanted to quickly thank you for your bravery and example. I understand just how controversial this subject has been for our community and your words are some of the most wise ones I have heard.
Unfortunately, I don't feel like we have heard the last of this issue and there will be a lot of growing up that will have to happen on both sides of the before it is resolved. Your love and concern will make a difference.
We are honored to know such a loving person. Your family is lucky to have you in their lives. So are we.
Jason
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