Listening, Learning. Loving. by Cookie Overson

We attended a funeral this morning for a good man who had lived almost 90 years. I, for one, enjoy attending funerals of those who have lived a long, good life, because I enjoy learning about them; about the people they were when they were young; about the challenges they overcame; the happy and sad moments in their lives; about the lives they influenced and those who influenced their lives. And I generally go away determined to be a better person and to live the kind of life that, when I am gone, I will be missed and remembered with love and affection and will have influenced others' lives for good.

What I discovered this morning, was that, though I had known this man for many years, I really didn't know him at all. I didn't know that he had graduated from college with a degree in engineering in two years and then from law school in the next two years. I didn't know that he enjoyed working with electronics or that he took up golf just so that he could spend time with his three sons, who all enjoyed golfing. I didn't know that he played duets on the piano with his daughter or that he took his family on wonderful vacations every year, knowing that spending time with his family was of paramount importance. I didn't know of those who were lost and trying to find their way that he had taken under his wing and nurtured simply because he cared. I knew that he lost his beloved son, in 1981, but I didn't know that he also lost his mother and his best friend in that same year, which was devastating and life-changing.

This morning, I left the funeral determined to be less judgmental, more aware, and more interested in the people around me. I want to look for the goodness and the divinity in others. I want to look past what appears to be the obvious and see into the heart. I want to see others more like God sees them and less like man sees them. 

No person is unimportant or uninteresting. Everyone has a story worth listening to and each person I meet is worthy of my time, my attention and my love. We have so many elderly people in St. Johns who have wonderful stories to tell. If given the chance, they can teach us so much and enrich our lives, while helping them remember that they are valued and worthwhile members of our community and of our families, and that they are still needed. As President Ezra Taft Benson said, the Lord "has needed the wisdom and experience of age, the inspired direction from those with long years of proven faithfulness to His gospel. . . . Older almost always means better, for your wealth of wisdom and experience can continue to expand and increase as you reach out to others." The Lord needs these individuals and so do we. Maybe the reason that people slow down as they age, is so that some of the younger folks can catch up with them and have the opportunity to listen and learn. :)