Rising Generation

So this post is going to be more like a journal entry...

Today at church, the theme for our first block of meetings was The Rising Generation.  There were 3 youth speakers this morning and each touched on a different aspect of our rising generation.  The third speaker is who I am writing about today. She shared a great talk about the importance of standing firm and immovable, however, it is her presence and the kind of person I see in her that I wish to share.

Let me introduce you to Arlee Richardson.  She is the oldest of 4 and a senior in High School.  She has beautiful, long auburn/red hair with fair skin.  She's gorgeous.  She's kind. She's humble. She knows who she is. She loves the Savior. She loves her family. She stands tall when she walks.  She's proud of who she is and happy to be Mormon.

Now that you have kind of a visual of what kind of person I am talking about, you will understand the rest of my post.  As I watched her give her talk this afternoon, she constantly was smiling and at times, her smile got bigger.  She would sometimes pause during her talk.  I couldn't tell if she was pausing because she was getting emotional or pausing because her smile was so big that she was about to laugh.  As I looked one row behind me, I could see her younger brother and sister sitting in the pew, both leaning forward, with just as big of smiles on their faces.  I can see how Arlee might have struggled with this, I probably would have giggled myself but she kept her composure.  Let me just add...they were sitting straight ahead of her so every time Arlee would look out at the congregation, I'm sure they were the first people she saw.

Then my thoughts turned toward their family.  What a great support system they have. Every time I see them, they are always kind towards each other and showing love for each other.  They seem to be best friends. I couldn't help but smile myself when I saw such love, encouragement, and support among siblings.  Every member of the Richardson family exemplifies our Savior Jesus Christ.  I see it in their demeanor, their actions, their words, their smiles.  As all of these thoughts went through my head as Arlee was speaking, I thought of their mother.  What a great job she is doing in raising her family to have such strong faith in our Savior Jesus Christ and to love those around them especially those in their family.

Now, whether or not Audrey and Grant were trying to make her laugh or trying to disturb her, I know not but what I saw was encouragement and love.  I love that family.  I love that they are so devoted to the gospel.

I hope that I can raise my children to love each other, to support each other, to be happy for one another as they achieve things in life, to encourage each other as they attempt to do things out of their comfort zone, to love our Savior, to smile at one another as they give talks in Sacrament Meeting. If we had more "Richardson families" in the world today, it would be a better place. I was recommitted this day to live better, live happier so that others might see that happiness as well.  That others might see that if we could all show love towards each other, the world would be a happier place.

Thank you Richardson Family for your example and helping me catch a vision to what I hope my children will be like.