Raise Your Sights

Are there any people in your life who, when you are around them, make you want to be better, do more, and raise your sights on life? There are a few such people in my life. Tonight I was able to spend several hours with one of them during a youth temple trip to the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple. He is my bishop, but he is fast becoming my friend, and when we spend time together I am left wanting to relish all that is good and meaningful - and fun - in life.

So what are some of the characteristics of a person such as this, who leaves everyone better off than when he found them? Here are a few ideas:

1) They love life and live in a way that is fulfilling and energizing. It doesn't matter what their passion is, they pursue it with vigor and thereby enjoy a satisfaction with and enthusiasm for life that is contagious. In the end they make you smile, and everything is better when you're smiling.

2) They are interested in other people and leave others feeling important and, maybe even more powerfully, listed to. The best conversation a person can have is one about himself with someone who is genuinely interested.

3) They are interesting and bring with them an uncommon depth, but also with relatability. I have met many deep and interesting people who lack that last quality, and they just don't inspire in the same way as someone who not only stretches your heart and/or mind, but also inspires you because you can see yourself in them.

4) They are without guile. There is no pretense in their manners or conversation, and you never need fear or doubt their intentions. Even if they orchestrate a practical joke, there is no feeling of malice in them - just good, clean fun. They are humble, teachable, seekers of truth, and lovers of that which is good.

5) They are filled with love. This love acts as a cleansing agent within these magnetic people. Where there could be found anger, the pangs of regret, shame, or guilt, there is none evident because they are filled with love - or charity. This does not mean that they do not feel these emotions; indeed, they are natural to all people. Rather, it is that the feeling and understanding of love is so strong within them that this love surrounds and squelches anything contrary to it, thus creating a loving buffer between the person and the negativity. Someone who is filled with fear or doubt will assuredly be stifled by those feelings, produce corresponding fruits, feel the resultant anger, regret, shame and guilt . But a person who is filled with love will pass through life without the same feeling of burden as the fearful and doubtful, thus producing fruits of love and faith and feeling the attendant joy and satisfaction. Those who draw us to them and who raise our sights on life have lived much more according to love and faith than to fear and doubt. And their attractiveness and "inspiration power" increase in direct and compounding proportion to the ratio between love/faith and doubt/fear.

So what makes a person so great to be around? Well, it's probably a lot more than these 5 things, and any additional ideas are welcomed heartily. But this one thing I can say - I know when someone has that "it" factor, the quality(-ies) that attract me like a magnet, and I know when someone leaves me wanting to live a more fulfilling life. And those are the people I want to associate with, if they will have me. Your list may be different and I would love to hear about someone who impacts you in this way. We all need such a person, or many such persons. It is my hope and prayer that the numbers of these great people will increase as time goes on, that I may be warmed by the light of their love and faith - and be inspired to become the best me at the same time.