Lessons from Tears

This week is most certainly the inspiration for this blog. It started out with one of the best (emotionally touching) Sundays ever, continued with a couple of laughs, a couple of tears, a tragic accident, a lot of tears, a beautiful baptism (and some happy tears), a wonderful trip to the temple, and ended with another great Sunday. I realize that my week included many tears, and you may or may not be thinking, "Oh sure. Those tears are just 'cause Sierra's a crybaby." Although that statement is true, I've never been this crybaby-ish. Thus, I feel like the tears were a sign that I should pay attention, because believe it or not, the feeling that causes crying? Yeah, it's one of the best teachers there is.

So here are some of the things that I've learned from my tears in the past week:

~ My church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) is beautiful. If you are reading this blog, you might be a member of it, or you might not be (which is perfectly fine with me). But just know that I love it. I can see the beauty of it in many ways: listening to the simple, yet sweet testimony of a new convert or child; reading the Book of Mormon or another church publishing; listening to LDS music; and many other ways. I'm so happy to be a part of it, and it brings me much joy to have it (as well as Christ and my Heavenly Father) in my life. Oh, and have you ever been to a Mormon party? Who ever thought that a non-alcoholic party could be so crazy? We have the amazing ability to get "drunk" off of rootbeer and sprite--one of the great mysteries in life.

~ The atonement of Christ is amazing. As I stated before, I got to watch one of my very dear friends and her mother be baptized on Saturday. It was wonderful. I loved listening to their testimonies and watching their sins be washed away as they joined our church. I had the brief feeling of jealousy, that they got to have their sins washed away immediately and that I am quite obviously unperfect. And then I realized that while I can't be baptized again, I can have my sins forgiven quite easily, through the atonement of my Savior Jesus Christ. My response to that revelation was something along the lines of "Lightbuuulb." (on a side note, who doesn't love Despicable Me? To anyone who doesn't, you're not my friend anymore. Just kidding. But seriously, what's wrong with you?) As I was saying, it really put things into perspective. Just because I don't have the opportunity to be baptized again doesn't mean that I can't have my sins forgiven.

~ Life is beautiful, but it can be gone in the blink of an eye. On Thursday night, something very tragic happened in our community. Three girls and one boy (driving from a church conference in Nyssa to Weiser, two towns on either side of Fruitland) were in a fatal car accident, killing all of the girls and badly injuring the boy. I didn't know any of these teenagers personally, but I knew all of them through association. Some of my friends watched it happen (they were in the car behind it) and other friends had been talking to the girls just a couple hours earlier. They were and still are in shock. The entire community is devastated by this simple accident that was entirely unanticipated. Everyone has had quite a shift in their perspective of life since that night. It's just so crazy that you can be talking to someone and have them be gone minutes later. Many, many tears have been shed for them and many prayers said for their families.

These are the major lessons that I've learned from my tears this week. This week is not the norm, but wouldn't it be great to have this many lessons taught every week? (Okay, but not from car accidents. Please. We don't need another one. Ever.)
Anyhoo, since I didn't really explain before, this blog is just something of a journal-y sort of place for me to share random spiritual/inspirational/miscellaneous-al thoughts every Sunday (that's what I'm anticipating, anyway. Whether I actually do it every week is another story). It's just a place for people to take a step back, read something semi-entertaining and uplifting, and reflect on life. So invite anyone you want to read it--family, friends, the neighbors that you hate, a friend on facebook that you don't know at all (I still don't understand the appeal of being friends with someone you've never met. It just sounds kind of creepy to me). I would love to know that someone actually reads my little--well, for lack of a better term--Sunday Sprinkles! Welcome everyone :)