Today is September 7. One year ago, today, something big happened. I'd much rather not get into the details, but something happened this day that changed my life for the better.
And there is no conceivable way that that was even possible without a certain friend I had. Well, she was a little more than a friend at that time.
Anyway, I don't want to talk about how my life was before, or how this person changed that, because it's honestly really difficult to talk about. I know what happened, she knows what happened, and God knows what happened. Nobody else needs to know.
That's not my point. My point is why this person was in my life in the first place. That all gets down to friends.
I'm going to jump back to the 8th grade for a moment. To understand why all this happened to me, you gotta understand my past situation with my friends.
You ever had a toxic friend? One that does nothing to lift you up? One that doesn't care whether you do good or bad (sometimes encouraging the bad)? I had one like that.
He wasn't exactly a bad person, but the things he did influenced me to do the same. That wasn't a good thing. Eventually, I realized the bad influence he was to me, and dropped him from my life.
For a while, I was alone. I had nobody. But there was a group that kind of took me in. That accepted me. Not only were they nice to me, but they were friends to me. I never forgot any one of them (I'm even going to homecoming with one of them, but that's beside the point).
This group was the one that people generally identified as the Mormons. They wore their standards proudly, and loved the church. When high school came, I started to get a different group, and looked for people who lived their standards.
That's where this specific girl comes in. She clearly loved the church. Still does I hope. She even forced me to wait until she turned 16 before I could ask her out. Not that I wouldn't have waited anyway.
But after that, she constantly lifted me up. She and all the friends I had spent the time carefully picking did. They all wanted me to improve.
They all wanted me to succeed in life. To go on a mission. To get married in the temple. To achieve celestial glory. And even though many of these people have unfortunately moved on with their lives, including this girl I've said so much about, I still have those goals in mind. They will always be my friends. I try to be that friend now. The one who lifts others up, and inspires them to do well.
It's okay to be a little picky about your friends. The people you associate with will guide your life more than you can ever imagine. They'll either keep you on the straight and narrow, or lead you to the great and spacious building. I'm glad I was picky with my friends.
I love who I am. I love who I've become. I love how far I've come from who I once was. I love all the people who helped me get to this point.
So I just wanna say to all those friends, thank you so much. Thank you for everything you did for me. For helping me grow. For inspiring me to serve God. I promise (rather I pinky promise), that I will never let you guys and gals down. Love ya!
You don't have to listen to me though. It's just a thought.
-Nathaniel
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