I had an interesting experience this week and it was a great reminder to me that what you do and say is always being watched by others. Not in a bad way, but actually in a very good way. ( Now this photo I just liked, it is not that I think people watch us that closely. This photo of our Lauren makes me smile, I love how she sees and captures the beautiful things and moments of this world, through her lens.)
Anyway, back to my experience. I was in doctor appointment and as I was leaving, one of the workers said rather loud..."I was really disappointed". I looked back to see who he was talking to, and realized he was talking to me. I must have had a very confused look on my face because he then, clarified what he was saying. "I was really disappointed at BYU, or I should say at the player on their basketball team."
Many of you might have seen on the news that this BYU player he was talking about, is being suspended from playing on the team because he broke the Honor Code of the school. To say the least, I was shocked to hear him start a conversation like that. We went on to to talk about the Code of Honor that BYU has for all of their students, and the chance that the team might miss going to the championship tournament in March, because of this key player's choices. He asked more about the Honor Code and what all that really meant. I was grateful to share my opinion on the purpose of the Honor Code, I also told him that Jeff and I have that same type of Honor Code in our home by which we live and teach to our kids. I shared with him our ability to make any choices that we want in life, but how we can not chose the consequences from those choices. Some time the consequences seem to far out weigh the original choice or sin, although that may be true, that is not up to us. But we do have the ability to make the right choice and many times that might be hard to do. At the end of our conversation he said, " I am actually very impressed that a school would have such an Honor Code, and that there are people who live up to that." I am sorry to say that my son Lee hasn't had the same positive response at school. Many of the kids have teased or shared their opinion, on how stupid such rules are and why it shouldn't be that big of a deal. I was sorry to hear that so many people were making such a big deal of it to Lee. Yes, sometimes being a Mormon is hard for just that reason.
It just made me realize that even though I don't wear a sign on me saying that "I AM A MORMON!", I realize people watch me, just like I watch others. I have many friends from many different religious beliefs, and yet we respect each others differences and opinions, and still we are the best of friends. Someone may have been reading this blog and thought, why hasn't Lynn ever said that she is a Mormon? Does she have something to hide? Is she ashamed of her religion? It is not that I am trying to hide or be ashamed of anything, quite the opposite. I just share with you each day ...my life, my thoughts, my experiences. I hope you judge me by the life I lead, and not judge me for the fact that all you know is that I am a Mormon. I was raised in West Virginia, there were only a few kids in our whole school were Mormons, there was a lot of misconceptions about what we believed.I know first hand how mistreated and judged you can be for being different.
Actually everything I am is because of what I believe, I am not ashamed of that. My beliefs make my life better, the truths that I have, give me peace and hope. I am truly grateful for that. I hope that I am a better person because of my beliefs. If you want to know more about what I believe, feel free to ask me or just go to to this link... LDS.org
So the bottom line is this...we are watch each other, we have great examples in front of us daily. If you want to know why a person is happy,different or content, then just ask them. If you want to know what a person is really like, you can ask them, but you also need to watch how they live, how they treat others, how they treat their family, just watch what they do. Our examples will always speak louder than our words.
Good night dear friends!
"No accurate thinker will judge another person by that which the other person's enemies say about him" ~ Napoleon Hill
"I have always thought the actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts." ~John Locke
"Respect is what we owe; love, what we give" ~ Philip James Bailey
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