All About Perception

This week, I read a short blurb on Facebook about Thomas Edison, probably one of the smartest that the world has had in its history. It said,

"One day Thomas Edison came home and gave a paper to his mother. He told her, 'My teacher gave this paper to me and told me to only give it to my mother.' His mother's eyes were tearful as she read the letter out loud to her child: 'Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn't have enough good teachers for training him. Please teach him yourself.' Many, many years after Edison's mother died and he was now one of the greatest inventors of the century, one day he was looking through old family things. Suddenly he saw a folded paper in the corner of a drawer in a desk. He took it and opened it up. On the paper was written: 'Your son is addled [mentally ill]. We won't let him come to school any more.' Edison cried for hours and then he wrote in his diary: 'Thomas Alva Edison was an addled child that, by a hero mother, became the genius of the century." 

I loved that! That through a change of perspective, through a different lens, we see people as they truly are, and as they can become. In the women's conference this year as a part of General Conference, there was a video that highlighted a woman that was so great at seeing the strengths of others. One part that I remember said something about how a friend does not see someone for their weaknesses, but rather for their strengths.

I am so grateful for my mission because it helped teach me about seeing everyone as God sees them. I remember I would meet some people that may have made some terrible mistakes in life, but I remember and still feel just as vividly the love that I have for them. One woman in specific was in my third area. My companion and I were walking around in the cold Kentucky winter when we saw a woman smoking on her balcony; the only one besides us willing to brave the cold. At first we did not see her, but she called down to us, asking us what we were doing in skirts in such cold weather. We introduced ourselves as missionaries, and after talking for a little while, she invited us inside, warning us, "But just so you know, I do not talk about God!" We went for it anyway, and we had this great talk. She had been addicted to pain killers off and on in her life, and she was not happy. Although she did not want to originally talk about God, it ended up happening and we were able to talk openly for about an hour about the saving and cleansing power that comes through Christ. At the end of the discussion, we left her with a prayer and she sent us on our way with various snacks. Thinking about me makes me miss her. I think of all those people that I met, lost and struggling, and I miss them and love them so much, and I think it is because I could always see their potential. I remember lessons or first acquaintances when Heavenly Father would bless me with a vision of what this person could become.

It is so easy to discredit ourselves and to not see all the good that we are doing. I will be the first to admit that I do that often. I am taking an Etiquette class (I try to take a fun class every semester) and it is amazing. While I doubt that I will remember every rule that I am learning, I love the class even more because it is changing me into a better person. Every class, I realize one thing that I can improve in how I treat others around me. I consider myself a fairly nonjudgmental person (thanks to various life circumstances and especially my mission), but there are always so many ways in which we can improve. I think it all really comes down to being in the moment, without the distractions of phones and other worldly things, to focus on others and their strengths. I know that through others, I have felt God's love and I hope that I can somehow do the same for others.

So this week, I have a more determined resolve to give people more credit and try to treat people as Christ would. I have realized that as I pray for help on this, God always helps me to realize in the moment an opportunity to improve. Included in this, I hope to try to see my potential more as well and allow myself that same patience and love that is easier to give to others.

A few things from the week that made me smile:

• Watching my roommates somehow get into a cheese fight, throwing cheese at each other. Haha. 
• Seeing David Archuleta twice in one week! <3
• When people make me dinner after a long day (I am surrounded by angels) :)