In Sunday school this past week, I shared a story that was a little embarrassing, but did pertain to the lesson. The teacher asked if any of us had ever had a time when we wished that we were not who we were, or if there was a time when we didn’t want to make it known that we were LDS.
I immediately thought of a story from my teenage years. As a teenager, living in Texas, I was usually very proud of who I was. All of my friends were non-mormon, and frequently asked me questions about my religion. I was always happy to share with them anything that they wanted to know and had a strong testimony.
I was working in the lobby as a bank teller, and had an elderly man come to my desk wanting help with his checking account. As we were working on his checkbook, I quickly realized he was a talker. He talked my ear off. He went on and on about all sorts of things. In the course of the conversation he told me that he was a retired minister. I was hoping and praying that the subject of religion wouldn’t come up. But, of course, when you hope something like that, it usually always does come up. I was thinking, “Oh if I tell him I’m mormon, he’ll never leave me alone!” Here I was at work, but far enough away from coworkers, that they weren’t listening to our conversation. So, when the question came….”What religion are you?” I quickly replied, “Methodist”. He laughed and said, “Oh Methodists are just watered down Baptists!” (whatever that meant) and went on talking away about something else.
I was relieved, but I was also embarrassed for myself. This was not like me to not be true to who I was. I immediately felt a tremendous amount of guilt. Thank goodness he did not press the issue and ask me what church I went to. I lived in a small town, and lots of people knew each other. But, for me, this was definitely a lesson learned. I went on to serve a mission for our church, and proclaim every day for 18 months of the truthfulness of the Gospel.
I know that this was just a simple mistake in my youth, that I have repented for a thousand times over. In fact, I think I repented the instant those words came out of my mouth! My Sunday school class got a kick out of it. They thought it was a funny story.
But, the point is, that sometimes it’s hard being LDS. It’s not easy to always stick up for what you believe in and be a defender of your faith. But, that is what is required of us as members of the church. That is what the Lord expects. I know for a fact, that I would never make that same mistake. But, it was a great learning lesson for me, and a funny story to share about one of my not-so-perfect-moments.
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