Why I Believe Wednesday: People

I have started this post a bajillion times, and every time with a different subject.  But what has been on my mind lately and what I really want to write about are the people in my life that have made me who I am and who have, by listening to the Spirit, been answers to my prayers.

Isn't it amazing when you really struggle with something, and think no one understands, and then you meet someone or talk with an old friend and realize you aren't alone in the world? 

Doesn't your heart soften a little when you see someone in need, especially if it's a need you can fill?  Doesn't your heart melt when someone fills a need of YOURS that you didn't even express, or that you know put them out a little to be the answer to your prayers?

Aren't you inspired when you meet some people, whether it's because they've face enormous challenges and conquered them with the power of faith and the human spirit or just because they are a good person and you want to be a little more like them in some small way?

When you think about your closest friends, and where you would be without them, are you a little awed that they know you so completely and love you anyway?  Aren't you grateful that they had the influence they did on you that kept you going when maybe you would have faltered on your own?

No matter who your family is or what relationships you have with each member, isn't there just a whole lot of love behind it all?  The kind of love that keeps you trying to create instead of destroy beautiful relationships that will last beyond the grave?

When you are seeking choice human experiences, don't they always involve people you love or admire by your side?  Isn't everything more beautiful and more fun when you have someone to share it with?

As much joy as there is in being loved by others, isn't it even more joyous to love them?  No matter what?

I may not have a lot of friends, and my family may occasionally drive me insane...but I am SO blessed to have these amazing people in my life nonetheless.  My friends are incredible, and without them I literally would not be alive today.  My family is loving and MINE, *FOREVER*.  I know that Heavenly Father put us on the earth together instead of on our own little planets for a reason.  Salvation, and happiness, cannot be achieved alone.  Yes, it is we who must make our own choices INCLUDING happiness, but if we could truly do it alone we wouldn't be here, trying to figure it all out together.  We are social creatures, but more than that, we are FAMILY.  Brothers and sisters.  People who need people.  And when I meet people that embody that in the best of ways, I feel more connected to humanity.  If it were just a matter of biological or sociological imperatives, I don't think I'd feel that way about the people I meet and the people I love.  I don't think people would be moved to help others so selflessly.  I don't think you could even trust the happiness in the relationships you have.  But knowing where we all came from, what we all chose to do in this mortal life, and where we all want to end up--those are the ties that bind.  God knew that, and He provided a way for us to all be together, FOREVER.  That way is through the saving ordinances in the temple, which is what makes it such a sacred, beautiful, holy, necessary place.  It's also through our daily actions as we learn to love others in our own spheres of influence, even as the Savior loves us.  I know that.  I love that.  And I'm trying to live that.  Maybe I fail occasionally, but I keep trying, because I know what we are all trying to do and to become.  That is why I love people, even when I sometimes don't understand them.  And that is why I believe.