IN the World, but not OF the World

Having attended college in a community highly populated by members of the LDS church, I became accustomed to the easiness of associating myself with others who had the same standards as me. There were still situations in which I found myself slightly uncomfortable because of the choice of activity or conversation, but for the most part I felt no qualms about engaging myself in the community of people with whom I lived.  However, such a community is not the reality for the majority of the world, and as I graduated and moved on with me life, I was faced with the interesting challenge of how to associate with people who had drastically different standards than me in regards to conversation, activities, and morals.

From what little association I had with this new community of people, I already felt the lack of being positively uplifted and much of time I felt slightly uncomfortable and out of place.  I wanted to be a positive influence, and I wanted to have people with whom to interact, but it just seemed easier to maintain my own personal standards if I simply isolated myself from such associations.

Although it was my choice to disassociate myself from certain activities and groups of people, I almost felt as though it was not me that was disassociating, but them.  I wanted nothing more than to interact with people, to do fun activities, to talk of ideas and events, to encourage and uplift; however, my experience did not prove that others always wished to engage in such pursuits.  Would my involvement with such people change the group for the better?  Possibly.  Yet, on the other hand would it be more likely that my involvement would leave me feeling negative, uncomfortable, and out of place?

"How then do we balance the need to positively contribute to the world and to not succumb to the sins of the world?"1  

There are many genuine and good people in this world that may or may not hold the same standards as I do.  However, this is not reason enough to alienate myself from them.  Yet, the 'gulf' between the standards of the world and way our Heavenly Father has commanded us to live is widening ever more.  I believe that we can have positive associations with others who do not hold the same standards as us.  However, I also believe that there are many situations where the positive influence that we can have on a group is to remove ourselves and to not participate at all.

The key to know whether we should participate or refrain is to recognize whether our associations encourage us to live what we believe.  We will always be surrounded by people with different beliefs, perspectives, and opinions.  However, despite these differences, there should be a common goal amongst us to uplift and encourage others to be their best self.  It is when I feel the lack of this common curtesy that I remove myself from such associations.

Sometimes the best thing we can do is to simply be true to ourselves, true to our God, and true to our faith.  In a world that is rapidly separating itself from the eternal truths of our Heavenly Father, we as His disciples will not have to declare where we stand.  The way we live our lives we declare it for us!

1  https://www.lds.org/youth/article/being-in-the-world-but-not-of-the-world?lang=eng