Come to the edge...

      When I was in the MTC, I watched a fireside with Elder Holland speaking about missionary work.  Among other things he shared, he recounted an experience he had with his wife.  To my best recollection here is what he said;
       "The other day my wife shared a poem with me that she found.  It was originally written is French, so she translated it for me.  The poem goes like this;
     
       Come to the edge
                   no, will fall
        come to the edge
                   no, will fall
       come to the edge!
               So, we came
              He pushed us
              and we flew..."
 
       I love this poem. What do you think this poem is trying to say?  When the poem invites you to come to the edge, what are they talking about?
        Elder Holland related later that each one of us are often required to come to our personal edge.  The edge is where we step into the twilight of uncertainty and the limit of our understanding.  It's those leaps of faith that are so very scary to us.  Be it deciding to take a certain job, to move across the country, to marry a certain person, to have a child when bidden, to accept a calling, to invite the less active to return to church; it can be any of these things.
     He described the edge as being the place where miracles are performed, where lives are changed, where people are healed, where differences are made, where real power is manifest, where the Savior always was, and where the Savior commands that we come.  I love that idea.
      The best thing about the edge is that we can go there every day. Just little things, like heeding the idea of talking to someone you don't know, of asking them how their day is.  It can be summoning the courage to make a remark to a friend that they need, but perhaps do not want.  It can be making the decision to get outside of your comfort zone.  It's making the decision to exercise a little more faith everyday.   I'd like to say that I have been conducting experiments with this idea lately, and it has yielded some pretty remarkable experiences.  Every day is an edge day!
     So if you come to the edge sometime in the near future, I'd love to hear about it!

When girls cry

    The lyrics come to mind "and IIIII'l be your crying shoulder...".  For one reason or another, over the past two weeks I have provided the crying shoulder for a surprising number of my female friends.  It's all from family issues to homework overload to roommate frustrations to just needing a moment to cry.
         Watching a girl cry is an awful thing; you can feel the bitter and sad and frightened emotions coursing through their bodies as you hold them gently and try to offer consolation.  I wish that I could get inside their heart for a minute and sooth their upset feelings.  The best I can do is hold them and breath gently, just willing some of their pain to go away. As much as I want to I cannot share with them wholly the serenity and collectedness that they so desperately need.
       It's somehow soothing to me to be able to comfort someone in tears.  It's almost as if I'm descending on their roller-coaster of emotion with them.  When they begin to calm down and dry their eyes, it's as if I am feeling the same relief they are.  I'll ask "are you okay?  It's all going to be okay.  Is there anything I can do to help?"
        I am grateful for my shift on the waaah-bulance these past two weeks.  I know how much I like it when someone can hear me out, and doing it for someone else is the next best thing.  I walk away from their apartment feeling more peaceful and calm and closer to the Spirit than I did before.