Humbling Experiences

 On Saturday, the boys and I headed to Ron Yerian's (our Allstate agent) ranch so the boys could see some calves.  Hyrum can be timid when it comes to things bigger than him, or something he isn't used to being around, so it took Ron's daughter a while to get Hyrum to help her feed the cows.

But before long he was giggling at the cow sucking up those Willow tree branches!

One of the cows and her calf got out and so the boys were helping to get them back in.  It was fun watching them :)

I am pretty darn sure they are Catholic, and good ones they are.  To me, a good member of any church isn't so much about going to church but how they treat their "neighbors."  Ron already had my business but once he found out the boys were in Cub Scouts he was willing to give up some of his Saturday time to let the boys be around nature.  His wife was darling and his children patient with my boys as they showed them around.  They sent us off with some of their cow meat and I left feeling loved by some people I barely knew.

I bring up me thinking they are Catholic because of a discussion that took place in Sunday School today.  It was over missionary work and a few people made comments about how hard it was for them to let their children go to other churches with their friends but are perfectly fine with their children's friends coming to church with them.  Ok, fine.  I can understand the uncomfortableness of the fear of your child straying from what you have brought them up believing.  But as the discussion went on, there were a few comments that indicated that some of them felt that it wasn't an option.

I have to admit that it made me mad.  How do we expect to ever pass the gospel, as we know it, to someone else of another faith if we aren't willing to do what we have asked them to do?  Why would a Catholic ever want to come to a church function with me if I snub them on their offers to come with them to their church?  But even worse, it really bothers me that some feel as if we are "better" than others of another faith because we have knowledge of the true and everlasting gospel that others don't.  We certainly aren't better.  I have no doubt we are blessed because of it, but better?

So, I'm fighting my urge to raise my hand and somehow give a "gentle" backlash at their, oh-so-holier-than-thou, attitudes when suddenly the Holy Ghost whispers to me, just as the meeting is almost over, that I was once one of those people.

Ouch.

How often do I forget what my "life lessons" have taught me?  Don't I only have this strong belief in loving other religions because of my upbringing in the Bible Belt and being surrounded by many faiths?  Don't I have this belief because once, I feared their influences only to finally figure out that they all have one purpose....a strong belief in our Savior, Jesus Christ?  I have no right to be mad at anyone who hasn't had those same experiences yet, to help them see differently.

It's good to be humbled sometimes, isn't it.