I read this story on my friend Donise's blog and loved it. Donise is not only my good friend, but also my mentor. She and her husband Lloyd are serving a mission in Adam Ondi Ahman, where her husband is the director there. I thought she had such a great message, I wanted to share it.
Friends of Donise and Lloyd visited them in Missiouri. This is what she wrote after their visit.
Karine Eliason shared an interesting story. She and Gordon are good friends with the Uchtdorfs. (As in President Uchtdorf of the First Presidency and his wife.) They met back in Glendale while Dieter was at Luke Air Force base teaching pilots. In fact, we ALL were in the same ward. The six of us even traveled to Utah when two couples from the ward went to be sealed. Ten couples went together up to share in this exciting experience. A sad point is that I do not even remember the Uchtdorfs at all.
Last year Karine had surgery and was at home recovering. One day the doorbell and rang and it was the Uchtdorfs. They were just in town and had heard that she was in need of a visit.
This is a wonderful story; nevertheless, I learned a valuable lesson from it. I am envious of the relationship the Uchtdorfs and Eliasons have with each other. Then I think that we could be long time friends with the Uchtdorfs as well. We were in the same ward at the same time. As I look back and wonder why I do not even remember them, I realize that I had kept in my own little world, busy with family and the friends I already had. I was probably not interested in trying to make friends with people who could barely speak English and would not be there very long anyway. Because I did not go out of my “comfort zone”, I missed some wonderful friends.
How many other people have I missed rich experiences with because I did not reach out to them? Each person on earth has something that could enrich my life. I am trying harder here on my mission to meet people and get to know them.
Karine Eliason shared an interesting story. She and Gordon are good friends with the Uchtdorfs. (As in President Uchtdorf of the First Presidency and his wife.) They met back in Glendale while Dieter was at Luke Air Force base teaching pilots. In fact, we ALL were in the same ward. The six of us even traveled to Utah when two couples from the ward went to be sealed. Ten couples went together up to share in this exciting experience. A sad point is that I do not even remember the Uchtdorfs at all.
Last year Karine had surgery and was at home recovering. One day the doorbell and rang and it was the Uchtdorfs. They were just in town and had heard that she was in need of a visit.
This is a wonderful story; nevertheless, I learned a valuable lesson from it. I am envious of the relationship the Uchtdorfs and Eliasons have with each other. Then I think that we could be long time friends with the Uchtdorfs as well. We were in the same ward at the same time. As I look back and wonder why I do not even remember them, I realize that I had kept in my own little world, busy with family and the friends I already had. I was probably not interested in trying to make friends with people who could barely speak English and would not be there very long anyway. Because I did not go out of my “comfort zone”, I missed some wonderful friends.
How many other people have I missed rich experiences with because I did not reach out to them? Each person on earth has something that could enrich my life. I am trying harder here on my mission to meet people and get to know them.
Donise's story made me wonder what I might be missing out on as well by not stepping outside my comfort zone.
Another lesson I learned was not to judge, as we never know the potential of those around us.
But I am grateful Donise reached out to me! She is older than I am and I have often benefited from her wisdom.
I also love that she told me once her eye sight is so bad, she can't see any of my faults.
You just gotta love having a friend like that!
11 comments:
Great post. You always give me something to think about, while I just blog about silly things like new bras. *sigh*
Wow. Makes you think. I hadn't really thought about it before, but I don't really reach out to the new people in my ward very much. I am nice to them, but I, like your friend, am comfortable with the friends I have and and so don't really try to make more. I am going to have to do better.
Great post. I think it can apply to everything in life, not just meeting people. I wonder how many experiences I am missing by not reaching outside my comfort zone in any area of my life. Food for thought!
This is so true! It can feel really hard to get out of our comfort zone, but in the end it is so worth it. I remember first being married and being part of a new ward. I really had to make an effort to get to know people and get involved. There were early Sundays when I wanted to cry because I felt like I knew no one, but my work paid off and by the end I was sad to move.
BTW, thanks for the scripture about the Miss CA situation. I will be marking that one in my scriptures tonight!
Thanks for sharing that.
Wonderful.
About Utah being so far; I remember all too well those trips from Phoenix up to Logan year after year to be close to my family. Whom, one by one, LEFT Arizona and moved to Utah. So, we did the next best thing IBM would offer and we moved to Boulder. Hey, it took 4 hours off the trip to Logan.
Inspiring post. It's so much more comfortable to stay in your comfort zone but then its exciting when you think of all the people you haven't met or thoroughly gotten to know yet- it could make life such an adventure.
THis is a wonderful post!!!!! very thought provoking :)
i love good friends... young or old. a good friend is like a treasure to me.
What a wonderful post! Thanks for making me think! I too need to step out of my comfort zone, I am sure I miss out on many, many wonderful friends and valuable experiences!!
You are amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Tanielle
Thanks for the insight. It's so important to reach outside ourselves and I think that's too easy to forget sometimes.
I have given you an award on my blog if you'd like to come by!
Why DO we get stuck in that comfort zone? Good challenge and I will definitely be trying to step forward a bit. Thanks for hitting the spot once again and I will always seek to have poor eyesight!
Thanks. I love the way I feel after reading your blog. Always uplifted.
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