While I was serving in Australia, my companion and I taught a less active member who was a young single man no older than 25. It had to have been the third or fourth lesson I had been in with him and we were discussing his concerns about how, in his mind, the church's expectations were too high. He expressed that he didn't think he really fit the scene. He felt that he couldn't be himself around the members because they were looking down on him for being different or they were judging him for his mistakes. As the words rolled off his tongue, I felt a knot begin to grow in my throat. I understood him. I have struggled for as long as I can remember with the way people look at me. I have never really felt like I fit in. My shy personality sometimes made me seem awkward or "stuck up"or unapproachable. Throughout high school, I was better friends with my young women's leaders at church than any of the girls. I tried really hard to fit but sometimes I felt like the only thing that got me was a reputation...and not a good one. As I prepared for my mission just months before this lesson, I often prayed about his very concern but never really got a solution to this common problem. However, after he finished speaking, I had something come to mind. I said, "Ryan, I don't want to change you. In fact, I am inspired by the exact person that you are. All we seek to do is bring you to Christ. You have a unique personality. We don't expect you to be like us or do what we do or say what we say. The people in the Church are not perfect but you cannot let that push you away. None of us are perfect. We all have problems. We all make mistakes. We are all individuals. The Lord gave you your personality. It is yours to keep and cannot be changed. Agency, however, gives you the ability to change your nature. Our mission is to invite you to come unto Christ because His nature is perfect."
I think those words may have taught me more that day than they taught Ryan. They taught me a lot about time. Time is not change. Christ is change. Every single day, the world around us becomes harder to live in. Society is at an all time low and is only getting worse. Why is that? Time? No. It's the increased absence of the nature of Christ. Change is controlled by our consistently evolving nature and the influence of Christ, our perfect unchanging example. I am converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because it does not change. It is founded upon the perfect teachings of Jesus Christ. That is how I know that time changes nothing. Christ is unchangeable for eternity.
I know He lives.
