Lovingkindness- yes, it's one word.

"Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." When I first heard this profound statement by Marjorie Pay Hinckley, it resonated within me. I hurried and scribbled it down on some scrap paper with a broken crayon I managed to find down in the depths of my purse/diaper bag- whatever you want to call it. The statement was too significant not to remember, and since that moment, it has become a motto for my life.

Being born and raised in a middle-class suburb of Vancouver, Washington was exceptionally ordinary. I attended public school, made good friends, was obedient, and then began the first leg of my college journey at BYU-Idaho.

My average life quickly changed in June of 2006. I got married. I began my first "hard battle" of halting my education, running off with my "newly degreed" husband, and starting our idealistic newlywed life in Las Vegas. But after our first lay-off, first baby, and a never-ending pile of bills, I realized we were headed for a war.

My dear husband has been laid off seven times. Right when life started going great, we got "let go," a child got sick, our insurance company denied another claim, or we needed to replace our timing belt. I've cried a lot. I pitifully wondered what I was doing wrong. Then, one day, as I was contemplating our lack of income, I realized that everyone around me was going through something even harder. I have friends who are dealing with foreclosure, cancer, death, depression, an inability to get pregnant, or divorce. I then taped my scrap paper quote to my bathroom mirror and sincerely began serving others who were facing tremendous challenges of their own. The battles I fight are unrelenting, but my perspective has changed. We are all in this together, and I've found lovingkindess to be essential for survival.