Point of View

Point of view is a weird thing. A person can only have one-their own. Yet as humans we can understand others POV and we can learn to see things from their POV but originally we only have our own POV. My POV has been so very wrong lately. And thinking about it for several days I thing my POV is way out of whack, I think it is broken. It is a very stomach sickening thing to learn about oneself.

I remember one significant day when I first noticed my POV was out of line. I was 13 years old and entering high school. Looking at the seniors I thought they were so big and so tall and so mature. Then a mere 4 years later I was a senior and when I looked at the seniors I realized that we were not that big, that in fact it was the freshmen who were tiny, scrawny, puny, and immature. I should have learned right there and then that my POV is wrong.

Over the next two decades I have learned about friends and their POV. There are so many POV out there. I have maintained friendships even though our POV on religion is not the same. Some of my friends do not have the same POV politically as I do yet we hang out and enjoy the things we do have similar POV on.  I have way more friends who have a POV regarding drinking alcohol than I do yet I enjoy going to events where we each have a choice of beverage and each can life according to our POV..

I know my POV is very wrong. I know that I have much to work on and much to understand. My sister is going through a trial that I have prayed more than once that I could be the one to go through it and spare her heart. My POV thinks that I cannot take this trial from her. My POV says that it is ok. She will be ok. Just as I was ok during the last 3 years of my life. My POV says that only I could do what I did and only she can do what she is doing. She has to learn and live and love through her own POV and I cannot cange her POV. I can only understand that my POV is wrong.  Each person on this planet has heartache of some kind. It may be public or it may be hidden but we all have it! We all have our POV to help keep us human.

Today in church my Bishop explained the need for a new study curriculum for the 12-18 year olds of the LDS religion.   His words were that while the youth today were an extraordinary generation and very strong but that many of the youth were being lost to immoral sins. The POV of the LDS church regarding chastity and morality are very strict and my POV agrees with the LDS church and I have chosen to live these laws. I find them to be freeing even though they seem so restrictive. It is a complicated POV of mine. Anyway, the youth in the world today are introduced to sex and experimenting with sex at such early ages that my church is trying to prevent the consequences of promiscuity.  The lessons plans now taught every Sunday to these young people will be NOTHING. No lessons will be prepared. Instead the adolescent will be given a topic such as the Godhead and the teen will research at home and then come with info for a discussion. This provides a way for the teens to learn on their own-in their own houses, to study out a topic and learn for themselves if it is something that they want to commit to. I think this is wonderful. But I am reminded of a time when I was a teen and my mother taught me about signs of the last days before Jesus Christ comes again. She said we would be required to teach the gospel in our own home. My POV interpreted that to mean that I would be living in a land where teaching the gospel in a public setting would be prevented. My POV thought that I would have to teach my children and myself alone. As a result I saved every manual and every church resource I could get my hands on. Yet sitting in church today I realized that my POV was once again WRONG! I will not be living in a world where I cannot publicly practice my religion. I will not have children. I will not be all alone in my teachings. Now my POV thinks that I will be required to teach those in my house the gospel so that they can stand on their own two feet and choose for themselves what they believe. The best environment for families to learn together is in the home and now my POV has changed.

POV is a ever changing thing. I know mine is completely flawed. I know my POV has let me down several times. I try to learn and try to change. I try. Yet I fail. My POV is only my point of view. I do not have anyone else's experiences and I do not have other people's thoughts. I just have mine and I am a 100% imperfect woman who fails 100% of the time.