Deep Thoughts On a Rainy Sunday Morning

Do you have the exact same relationship with everyone in your life?

Of course not.

You wouldn't greet your mailman with a kiss and a, "Hi, honey! Dinner's on the table." (Or maybe you would. I don't know. But I don't greet mine that way. I'd probably scare the poor fellow to death.)

You know you have different relationships with your friends. There's that one friend you call when you want to go see the latest movie. The other friend you call when you need a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes they're one and the same, but you've experienced it - sometimes there's a certain person you want to talk to because you know they'll "get" you when no one else will. No offense to your other friends, but they aren't on that same wavelength. 


You'll relate with each of your children differently because they're different people. I obviously interact with my eighteen-year-old daughter differently than I do my three sons because she's older and she's the only girl. I don't take my boys bra shopping. We don't have long talks about "girl stuff." And of course I do things with the boys that I don't do with her. I love them all equally, but my relationships with them are not all the same. They're separate, unique, and individual.

Today I've been thinking about the relationships we develop with our Savior. We have a tendency to compare ourselves to those around us. We wonder why our relationship with Christ isn't the same as the relationship our next-door neighbor has with Him, and we feel as though we're somehow lacking because it's different.

And yet, just as we don't have the exact same relationship with everyone in our lives, the Savior doesn't have the exact same relationship with each of us. He sees us as individuals. He thinks about each and every one of us as a separate, unique person, and so He relates to us as separate, unique people.

Our task, then, is not to seek out a relationship with the Savior that's just like our neighbor's or our sister's or our friend's, but to strengthen the relationship that we, as an individual, have with Him. To learn more about Him and how to interact with Him on a one-on-one basis, to make that relationship more and more important to us every day. And then our next task is not to compare. Your interaction with the Savior, your very personal, custom-made for you relationship, is a precious gift, one you can build on and refine, and you shouldn't feel as though Betty Jo's is somehow better. It's not better because it's not yours.

I am deeply grateful to know that our Savior doesn't view us all in a lump. Instead, He looks at us one at a time as separate beings and takes the time to think about our needs and our goals and dreams and aspirations. I'm so grateful to know that I can study and pray and attend the temple and come to know Him more and more each day, and that someday, I can come to know Him just as well as He knows me. And I'm also grateful to know that it's my journey. It's not a race. I'm not trying to reach that level faster than my friend or my neighbor.

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, does live, and He does love us. His Atonement makes possible everything we do. And I'm so honored and blessed and proud to call Him my brother and my friend.