Still Friends in the Lord

Last night I had the opportunity to see and visit with several old friends from high school. It was great to be able to see what is happening in their lives and to catch up with them. The fact that, as far as I could tell, “they were still [friends] in the Lord” made it all the more rewarding to connect and share life experiences (Alma 17:2). As I thought about this afterwards I was filled with gratitude for the positive impact they had on my life in my youth. One friend texted out to the group after seeing the photo we took, “Oh I love those people so much!! These people changed my life for good!” I feel much the same way and I am reminded of the Prophet Joseph’s statement about his feelings towards his friends who stood by him: “How good and glorious it has seemed unto me, to find pure and holy friends, who are faithful, just, and true, and whose hearts fail not.” How grateful I am to the Lord for faithful, just, and true friends whose goodness have indeed helped to point me to Him. The Prophet Joseph also declared, “Friendship is one of the grand fundamental principles of ‘Mormonism.’” What a glorious and rewarding principle!

                One of the things we have noticed about my grandmother as she ages (she is now in her late 90s) and loses some of her mental faculties is that her favorite subject of conversation is her childhood. Though she lived a full life including conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a young woman, non-military service in World War II, marriage with six children, and subsequently many grandchildren, what comes to her mind in these final years are the experiences of her youth. I think we simply can’t underestimate the impact—whether perceived or not—that our childhood has in shaping our lives. I imagine that when I get to my later years and start to lose my memory, I will surely start telling stories of my experiences in my early years with these friends: playing our made-up game of “quarterback receiver defender” in my backyard, laying out under the stars with the boys talking about everything from the girls we liked to the stripling warriors, doing the awkward “waddle” as we danced together at stake dances, gathering before the crack of dawn to wake up someone to take them to Denny’s before school on their birthday, and simply just hanging out and talking about our lives up ahead. The thought struck me today as I considered the influence of these friends on me that it was the Lord who surrounded me with them in my youth. I don’t think I have always appreciated their effect on my life or thanked the Lord for them, but as I take time to really ponder some of these experiences with them I realize that I owe so much to their positive influences and friendship to me. They were all so good and so desirous to do what was right that I have a hard time thinking of anything that we did seriously wrong (besides when Zach and I in first grade threw rocks over the fence and just about hit an old lady). They simply were always about doing the things the Lord wanted them to be doing! If I have amounted to anything in my life, I surely owe much credit to these faithful friends.

                When we were all on missions, the mom of one of our friends put together a monthly newsletter. We would write to her, and she would compile them and send them out to all 20 or so missionaries in the group (not a simple task!). I loved getting that newsletter every month and my mom kept all of them in a book for me. As I look through it my feelings echo the sentiments of one missionary in Panama at the end of his service who wrote this: “We are here to share the truth and bring the people to the light. They’re walking in the darkness and we need to help them find the way. Share those truths that we have with everyone. It will bless their lives and ours!! Thanks for being amazing friends to me!! I thank God for such wonderful friends I have!” At the end of another letter, now canonized, the Prophet Joseph described himself to the Saints in these words: “I am, as ever, your humble servant and never deviating friend” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:25). I have not always been the best friend to others, but I hope to some day be able to earn that title: a “never deviating friend.” I thank the Lord for all those who have been so to me!