When my son, Jason, told me he wouldn’t be serving a
mission, I knew this probably meant he would also go through at least a period
of inactivity in the church. This seemed
a reasonable assumption, but then… my mind went a little crazy and I began
worrying that my son would also give up all the goodness we had taught
him. Even though logically I know there
are many wonderful people in the world that are not LDS (and I have many
non-LDS friends whom I love and respect and cherish), somehow my heart took this
giant leap: no mission = giving up all
goodness.
I was able to keep my mind and emotions mostly in check
about all of this, but deep down I still worried about the goodness seeping out
of him until all that was left was a hollow shell of a young man. This worry plagued me until one day my phone
rang; it was Jason calling to tell me he had just volunteered to sing at a
funeral of a co-worker (in a quartet, nonetheless!).
Now, this might not seem like much but Jason would barely
sing congregational hymns and probably hasn’t even sung in any kind of group
since graduating from Primary. Yet here
he was telling me he volunteered to
sing in a small group at a funeral. I
was intrigued. As he told me about the
sudden passing of this co-worker and how people were reluctant to help with the
funeral, he felt that every life deserved to be honored in some way because
each life is precious. So, when he was
asked to sing “Amazing Grace” he said yes ~ to honor a fellow human being whose
life had ended.
I hung up the phone and have no longer worried that because
he didn’t serve a mission Jason will give up all the good he’s been
taught. He may not attend church but his
foundation is solid, his heart has actually grown bigger, and I am at peace
that this is his journey to navigate.
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