It's Strange Being a Human
We walk through life with this incredible ability to do whatever we want. Most of the time, nothing really stops us. Then something small happens and we’re faced with this moment of choice: do we take offense, or do we try to make things a little easier for everyone around us?
Take something simple.
You’re walking through a narrow path in a parking lot, your baby stroller doubling as your shopping cart. Up ahead, a shopping cart is blocking the way a bit. There is room to move around it, or even to move it more out of the way. You spot the woman who left it hopping into her car. Annoyance flares. You gesture a little, maybe even think, “Really? You’re just leaving it here?”
What you don’t see is what’s happening inside her car. She’s handing sandwiches to her kids, trying to feed them before she runs the cart back. The cart corral is farther away than it looks, and she’s just trying to keep the peace for a few more minutes.
No one’s trying to offend anyone. Yet in that moment, both women think the other is inconsiderate.
It’s strange how often that happens and how easily we assume someone’s being careless when really, it’s just their humanity showing.
I’ve noticed this same thing online, too.
Someone I knew once blocked me on Instagram. I didn’t even know why. Later, when someone asked about me in a group chat, she said, “I dunno, I blocked her.” So casual. So sure of it.
When I heard that I just sat there thinking, what a strange thing that is. That quiet confidence we sometimes feel when we decide who’s “out.” That little rush of power that comes from drawing a line around our world and saying, “They don’t belong here.”
It’s human nature, really. To protect ourselves and to cling to what feels safe. Even to defend our version of the story.
And yet… Jesus never did that.
His whole life was spent putting out fires, healing wounds, softening hearts, clarifying truth. He taught perfect doctrine, and still, people twisted His words or turned against Him. He could have walked away. He could have defended Himself. He didn’t.
He just kept loving.
Human nature is selfish. Divine nature isn’t.
Jesus couldn’t be selfish. Every choice He made was for someone else’s good.
When I think about that, I realize how radical His example really is. He met offense with mercy. He met interruption with patience. He met rejection with compassion. He showed us what it looks like to live without letting ego write the story.
And that’s the invitation of discipleship. We should pause before assuming, We should wonder what we might not see, and respond more like Him.
Mosiah 3:19 reminds us that “the natural man is an enemy to God… unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord.”
As Elder Gary E. Stevenson taught, “Love for others is the eloquent expression of the second great commandment to love our neighbor; it shows the refining process of the Holy Spirit working within our own souls. By demonstrating Christ’s love to others, we may cause those who see our good works to ‘glorify [our] Father which is in heaven.’”
That’s the holiest kind of growth:
To stop taking things so personally.
To stop closing off our hearts.
To stop trying to put ourselves on a higher level than anyone else.
To remember that everyone’s just trying, and that we can still choose love even when we don’t understand.
I’m learning that following Him means letting go of the need to be right or justified. It means noticing when my heart starts to harden and asking Him to soften it again.
It’s not easy.
That’s what makes it sacred.