Heather has two small boys, a husband, a dog, a minivan, a fence, and a weird sense of humor. She writes about her days as a SAHM and whatever else randomly closes in on her mind. Blogging is what keeps her focused on the extraordinary gifts that are all wrapped up in the everyday ordinary. And so she loves it, even more than she loves marshmallow Peeps. You can read more from Heather at her award winning blog,The Extraordinary O
One of the questions I'm asked (in the blogging community) more than anything else is whether or not I'm Mormon. In person, it usually takes some time, but then the inevitable curiosity gets the best of the person and they just have to know.
"So...are you Mormon?"
"No, I'm not."
"Oh...so...how come you have so many Mormon blog friends/readers then?"
And then I explain, as best I can anyway. I never know exactly how to do that. There are some obvious reasons, like that fact that I'm on the blogroll here at MMB. Then there's also the inevitable web effect (pun intended) that branches itself across the blogosphere when one person links to someone and then another and another and another...
In my case that webbing started with Kimberly of Temporary?Insanity. We connected and really enjoyed reading each other, then we linked to each other and all that good stuff. I was introduced to other bloggers I love from her blogroll and visits from her readers and well...you get the idea.
(I wrote a post about this some time ago on my personal blog, so those of you that read that are snoring right now. Sorry.)
Let's get to the good stuff then, shall we?
What do I think about Mormons? I've been asked that question by many of my Mormon friends too.
Let me start by saying that I did have some knowledge about the LDS church before all of these bloggy connections. One of my best friends grew up in a Mormon home, and her background has been something we've talked about at length over the years. Because of this I've done some reading, simply because I have a curious mind and like to know a lot about something, rather than just making assumptions.
I grew up in an Evangelical Christian home, and like anyone else, I've had to choose how I'm going to live out that faith. One thing that's important to me is that I work really hard on refraining from judgment. The damage slanted judgment can do in and outside the church hurts my heart, and I also simply do not think it's my job to judge.
My point? Please know that when I approach you (or your blog), or any person for that matter, I'm not seeing labels, I'm seeing you. I think a common thing that happens is that once a person finds out that someone is Mormon, that's all they can think about. They see a label. They see rules. They often don't see a person.
I try not to do that. For example, when I spent the weekend with Kim of Prairie Mama at BlogHer this last summer, I knew beforehand that she's Mormon. But that weekend, I didn't get to know a Mormon, I got to know Kim, who's Mormon. To get to know her and her beautiful heart, sense of humor and adventurous spirit is completely an honor. She's an absolutely lovely person. That's how I think of her. We talked about our faith when it came up because it's the very most important thing to both of us, but it wasn't the only thing we focused on. We did what I think we're called to do, and we focused on each other with unconditional love, and found we have much more in common than we do not. (She had to be unconditional with me. I'm weird.)
Lastly, let's just cut to the chase shall we? I'm not Mormon. It's obvious that if I had absolutely no thoughts or beliefs that differ from yours, I would most likely be Mormon.
But I do, so I'm not.
Sure, I could make a list of all the things I do that you could never and would never do, or things you do or believe that I don't, but I don't want to do that. While I respect you more than I can say, I'd rather focus on what we do have in common.
That, my friends, is Jesus Christ. (And the love we have for our families, and our humor, and our love affair with blogging...)
And our desire to live in service, with humility, forgiveness, justice, love...
We have all of those things and so much more in common because we seek to know this Jesus of Nazareth, the One who totally rocks the friendship party, and so much more.
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P.S. Please feel free to comment, saying what you think or asking questions. When Motherboard asked me to do this post, the only thing I was nervous about was the possibility of offending anyone. That would never be my intention, so if I did, let's talk about it. Most likely, I didn't mean the thing that seems offensive the way it's perceived. Cause I've got nothing but love for ya. Just saying.
