Mormon Women: Please keep serving . . . and consider expanding your definition of "refugee"

I just feel the need to get this out.

Please keep serving refugees.  Good job Mormon women (oh and the countless professionals and volunteers that have been serving this community for years).  Way to look into it.  Please keep reaching out to your fellow human sisters and brothers in love and service.

And please think carefully about who you consider a refugee.

Because chances are your neighbor is seeking refuge from something.

Chances are the newly labeled "apostate" gay couple that you know is seeking refuge from something--it might even be from the political decisions of your religious institution.

Chances are the undocumented immigrants whose children go to school with your children just might have left their country fleeing the same violence as official refugees.  They just might not have had the chance to seek asylum.

Chances are the person you see with food stamps and their nails done still might be in need of your kindness instead of your judgement.

Chances are that what Sister Burton was saying was to look EVERY human in the eye and ask yourself, "what if their story was my story?"

If you don't have a center for refugees near you--don't fret.  There are plenty of refugees of every kind surrounding you.

I loved Elder Kearon's talk in conference.  It was mind blowing and so well done with heart and truth.  His words that spoke most to me were the following:

"Being a refugee may be a defining moment in the lives of those who are refugees, but being a refugee does not define them. Like countless thousands before them, this will be a period—we hope a short period—in their lives. Some of them will go on to be Nobel laureates, public servants, physicians, scientists, musicians, artists, religious leaders, and contributors in other fields. Indeed, many of them were these things before they lost everything. This moment does not define them, but our response will help define us."

What I heard in that is everyone's story.  One piece of someone's identity system or their circumstance does not define them.

How are you defining you?