Interactions to Love and Lift

By Lauren Madsen

“It’s been fourteen years since I’ve been to the temple,” the smiling, but nervous brother told us as he approached the recommend desk. “Well, welcome back,” I beamed while he scanned his recommend. He thanked me, then asked my fellow worker and I where to rent clothing. As he followed our directions toward clothing rental, we marveled that we just never know how the Spirit and the Lord will work in someone’s life. I said a silent prayer that everyone at the temple would be extra kind and welcoming to this brother so that he would want to come back again and again and be strengthened by the blessings that temples ordinances and covenants bring into our lives.

The Spirit seemed to whisper to me in the minutes and hours after this encounter that the greatest thing would be for EVERYONE to be treated with extra kindness and a warm welcome, because everyone who walks through the front doors has a story. Whether they are coming back for the first time in fourteen years, or it’s their fourteenth visit this year, each and every person could benefit from a smile, a hello, a word of encouragement. I was reminded of Colossians 3 where Paul teaches: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering . . . And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness” (vs 12 & 14).

When I came home from my shift that day, I couldn’t get the phrase “you never know” out of my mind. You never know what someone else is going through. You never know when someone needs a lift. You never know when you might be prompted and become an answer to another’s prayers. You never know when someone will decide to take steps back toward the covenant path. I began a search in the gospel library app of the phrase “we never know” and found many beautiful messages. Sister Chieko Okazaki, in April 1993 general conference, said, “Brothers and sisters, we never know how far the effects of our service will reach. We can never afford to be cruel or indifferent or ungenerous, because we are all connected.” In the July 2024 Liahona, Elder Quentin L. Cook wrote, “We never know who among us might be searching for the light of the gospel but does not know where to find it . . . We never know what successes and challenges we will have as we love, share, and invite.” Elder Bradley Foster, in April 2010 general conference said, “We never know when a heart may be turned. We never know when a soul may be weary and worn out by the world.”

This year, to commemorate President Nelson’s 100th birthday, he extended this invitation: “One spiritual offering that would brighten my life is for each of us to reach out to ‘the one’ in our lives who may be feeling lost or alone. Over the coming months I invite you to consider prayerfully: who do you know who may be discouraged? Who might you need to reconcile with or ask for forgiveness? Has one name been on your mind lately, though you haven’t quite known why? As you bring these questions to the Lord, He will inspire you to know how you can reach out and lift one who needs help.” I love the thought of really contemplating who might need us, who we can reach out to. Sometimes we will know in what way others are struggling, sometimes we will not. Sometimes trials are kept hidden and we will never know that they are struggling at all, but we don’t need to know everything to be instruments in God’s hands. As we live worthy of the Spirit in our lives, we will be able to know enough to reach out to those who need us.

Back in April 2023, in his talk about being peacemakers, President Nelson was essentially pleading with us to understand the importance of our interactions with others, and also left us with a powerful promise: “My dear brothers and sisters, how we treat each other really matters! How we speak to and about others at home, at church, at work, online really matters. Today, I am asking us to interact with others in a higher, holier way . . . Brothers and sisters, we can literally change the world--one person and one interaction at a time . . . As you demonstrate the charity that true followers of Christ manifest, the Lord will magnify your efforts beyond your loftiest imagination.” The prophet has promised the Lord’s help, if we choose to move our feet. We become more like our loving, compassionate Savior one step, one act of kindness, one holy interaction at a time.