"Stand close together and lift where you stand."

This week we discussed Pres. Uchtdorf's talk in which he said, "Stand close together and lift where you stand." This is such a profound statement and it can be applied to so may areas in our lives. One way that I can institute this into my life is with my roommates. Four of my roommates and I are very outgoing and crazy. Our one other roommate, however, is more quiet and shy. She is very sweet and we all get along really well, but lately we have noticed that she doesn't do as many things with us as she used to. We all made a goal to include her more and try to make a special effort to reach out to her. This would not work if only one of us decided to do it. In order to really include her, everyone had to try and make it happen. We all need to "stand close together and lift where we stand." 

One other way that I can incorporate this into my  life, is with my family. I have four siblings, one brother and four sisters, and we are all best friends. We love each other so much and we love being together. Two years ago my oldest sister was married and is now living in Houston. My older brother is currently serving a mission in Chile. All of us miss them terribly, but my youngest sister Mali was really having a hard time for a while. Kimball and Mali have a really special relationship. He is eight years older than her and so she really looks up to him. They played games together all of the time and he was so good to her. When Kimball left, Mali really missed him and the things they did together. While we all knew that we couldn't stop her from missing him, we knew that we could make it better. Me and my sisters decided to make a special effort to reach out to Mali and make her feel included in the things that the "big kids" did. It has made such a difference. Everyone is doing their part, just as President Uchtdorf taught. We are all closer now because of it and I know that Mali is happier.