The mail system used here in the Referral Center has a feature called "importance." Whenever a new message arrives, it calculates the importance of that message based on the guidelines you have set.
I recently noticed that, despite me never having changed the importance guidelines, all the messages from my family were marked as "important." I considered for a moment changing the filtering rules. After all, from a missionary perspective, family messages are anything but important. There are much more significant things that have to be considered - messages regarding weekly reports, the status of those we are teaching, projects we're developing, and information regarding teaching appointments.
Then I thought about my family, and families in general. As we often state to those on Chat, we believe that families are ordained of God, and a vital part of His Plan of Salvation for all of us. We are never closer to Him than we are when we are with our families. As the children's song goes, "Home can be a Heaven on Earth." Without my family, there's no way I would be out here, teaching others about the gospel, at all. Someone had to teach it to me first. I thought about how grateful I am for all of the support they give me - for the financial help covering mission expenses, for the weekly letters and packages, and for the kind words after a long day without any success.
I decided to keep the importance settings the way they were.
I recently noticed that, despite me never having changed the importance guidelines, all the messages from my family were marked as "important." I considered for a moment changing the filtering rules. After all, from a missionary perspective, family messages are anything but important. There are much more significant things that have to be considered - messages regarding weekly reports, the status of those we are teaching, projects we're developing, and information regarding teaching appointments.
Then I thought about my family, and families in general. As we often state to those on Chat, we believe that families are ordained of God, and a vital part of His Plan of Salvation for all of us. We are never closer to Him than we are when we are with our families. As the children's song goes, "Home can be a Heaven on Earth." Without my family, there's no way I would be out here, teaching others about the gospel, at all. Someone had to teach it to me first. I thought about how grateful I am for all of the support they give me - for the financial help covering mission expenses, for the weekly letters and packages, and for the kind words after a long day without any success.
I decided to keep the importance settings the way they were.
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For most people who are blessed to have one, supportive, loving families are one of the first things that can be taken for granted. I know I take mine for granted quite often. You just know that, no matter what happens in life, they will be there for you. Some people are not blessed enough to have such loving support. I loved reading this blog because it is also a reminder to myself that, above almost everything else, family should never be taken for granted.