A Day For Pizza

BE YOURSELF AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

We had the Elders over for dinner Saturday night, along with our very good friends.  Everyone's favorite meal at our house is pizza.  You see, it is completely homemade, including the dough.  There are so many toppings on it that I usually have to eat mine with a fork, although the girls tend to not want theirs built with quite as much "stuff", they do have their favorite toppings.  They just prefer the simpler variety with cheese, pineapple, tomatoes and Canadian bacon.  The adults like pretty much everything, including a good dose of spinach and jalapenos. 
 John always starts with the little ones and they pick what they want on their half of a pizza.  Pizza choices are a very big deal in our family.  The girls consider that entire half their very own and they don't like to share.  They hide the leftovers in the fridge for lunch during the week.  They know if mom sees them, she just might, (in a fit of weakness you understand), eat those pizzas.  John made the missionaries their own pizza and then made several different types of pizza for the rest of the adults.  We don't mind sharing, so there were lots of variations to select from.
Miracle and her best friend each put their half of pizza on their plates to keep them "safe".  It is crazy around our house at pizza time.  I keep trying to tell them that they don't need a whole half of a pizza, but they insist that it is their very own because dad said so. 
Miracle also made "oohy, gooy" brownies for dessert, as a tribute to my taste, as I don't like them crunchy.  We talked, we laughed, we tried to steal pizza from the girls plates.  Life is so wonderful when you are sharing it with friends and family. 

Isn't it amazing how everyone is so different?  We are a lot like those toppings on our pizzas.  We are each just a little or a lot different than everybody else around us, and no matter how hard you try, no two slices are exactly the same.  Not only are we different, but each of us has within us something that others need.
Have you ever been able to say exactly the right thing to someone when they are hurting?  Have you ever been a comfort or a blessing to another?  Have you ever been in just the right place at the right time to give someone a helping hand?  I know that I have been.  It is an amazing feeling.
It can be hard to remember that we are supposed to be unique.  We are supposed to be ourselves.  We do not need to be just like everyone else.  Heavenly Father has put us in this place at this time to be a blessing to those around us.  We each have unique gifts.  Things inside us that are the essence of who we are.  Those things about us that make us different than anyone else. 
We all live such busy lives.  Yet, in our very "busy-ness", we are different.  We are each a Son or Daughter of God.  He loves us and we love Him.  But I do not believe that He expects us to be just alike. Like the toppings on a pizza, together, we can be so much more.  He made us different.  He made us unique.  He made us wonderful.   

“To be yourself in a world

that is constantly trying to make you something else

is the greatest accomplishment.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson