Love One Another

I was talking to a couple people; we were talking about life. Like so many people they expressed concerns about how they are treated in general. They feel people mistreat them, judge them, shun them, and they constantly have to defend themselves.

I know far to well these feelings, and how they drove me into isolation from others and from my Father in Heaven, and Jesus Christ. I related far to well to all the swirling questions they asked.

One of the biggest things is how we mistreat people. When I was in my addiction and having these same thoughts and feelings, I felt like it was everyone eles's fault. Which made me push everyone away more and more. It is a vicious cycle. In reality, when I was in my addiction I pushed people away in ways that created an opportunity for me to blame them for leaving me, mistreating me, and judging me.

What I want to write about today is when we encounter people that feel this way, we need to reach out, accept them, and love them in spit of how they act.

Every day we have a tendancy to put on a perfect face and go out in the world. We need to accept that we all have problems, trials, and heartache, and that's a beautiful thing. If we are willing to share our lives with others, in an open and honest way we could over come feeling mistreated, judged, and the need to defend ourselves. When we hide our hearts and souls from our own pain, we hide from God, and everyone around us. In this isolation, when we see others with similar pain and automaticlly tend to mistreat them, judge them, and push them away so that we don't have to face our own pain; thus isolating ourselves even more.

I want to tell you that it is okay, and even healthy to admit that we are not perfect, we have problems, trials, and heartache. This doesn't mean we live life as a victum. As we admit to ourselves our daily struggles, when we encounter others we can accept them and be able to love them through their struggles. When we admit that we are powerless to overcome our problems, trials, and heartache we are willing to turn to our Heavenly Father and the atonement of Jesus Christ. In turning to our Savior, we open our hearts towards those around us. In this a new cycle begins, a cycle of love and openness, especially a cycle of acceptance. Not only do we feel the warmth and love of Jesus Christ, but we offer the opportunity to all those around us to feel the warmth and love of Jesus Christ as well.