Rejection Analogy

I had some thoughts a week ago, and I finally wrote them down. Of course, they were in an email to my brother on his mission. I don't think he'll mind if I share them here. I thought they were important enough for me to have easy access to them so I can continue to reflect on it.

My other spiritual thing is rather an odd connection. It came to me last week during testimony meeting. I don't think I told you in last week's letter. I was thinking upon dating and rejection and such. I know--what a happy thought, especially during testimony meeting! But, as you may have guessed from my letters, dating and all has been on my mind lately. More so than typical because there is a possible candidate. Possible. That's where the rejection thoughts came in. I'd been feeling rather rejected the previous week, especially as memories of all the times guys have rejected me came to mind. They aren't pleasant, but they are part of my life. They can be quite painful and it has been some hard lessons and efforts to learn not to let those feelings debilitate me. 

We all know rejection. Missionaries and member missionaries feel it all the time. So many friends I talked to about the Gospel, or invited to Church, or gave a Book of Mormon. Most were polite (though one did stop the friendship), but they never accepted. They rejected what I offered. Of course, I know you know this. Especially with your work as a full-time missionary. You also know from that funny group date story you have of asking so many girls and being rejected. Now, rejected is a harsh sounding word in some cases. Some of the girls may have been busy--already made plans. Some of the guys I liked were interested in other girls. Still, a rejection is a rejection. And it hurts.

As I was thinking on rejection, it came to me how many if not all of us reject the Savior. Not intentionally on many of our parts. And we certainly don't mean to do it often or at all. But the Lord has asked us to keep His commandments. When we don't, in a sense we are rejecting Him. When we don't pray or say hurried prayers, we are rejecting the opportunity to communicate with Him, feel of His love, and know what He would have us do. When we neglect our scripture study, we are rejecting Him. We reject the words He made sure we would have for our benefit, and reject another way for Him to speak to us. When we don't go to the temple, we reject Him AND his children who desperately need our help. Any little thing we do that does not follow His commandments, it is a type of rejection of the Savior's love, His Gospel, and of the Savior Himself. It was a very eye-opening realization for me. I who know rejection so well and think my being rejected by others is so hard. It is nothing to how it must sadden our Brother and our Father when we reject Them. And how much more should we be accepting of Them!! My thoughts on that are not complete, and still need some pondering. But it certainly awakened me to my own actions, and to try to be better at my obedience.