The Beautiful People

Jerri is her name; Mark is his.

They look like a couple out of a GQ magazine. Both are tall. Mark is handsome and slender with brown spiked hair. Jerri is beautiful, slender and tall - with blonde spiked hair and heels. She has the most bubbly sparkly personality and plays the organ at church.

Since they moved into the ward over a year ago, I have just loved Jerri. We are not close friends - we pass in the hall, but it's always fun to talk to her....she's like the energizer bunny; her enthusiasm is palpable.

She gives the most compelling lessons, examples, talks, experiences. Oh, she is a great one!

"How's your business?" I asked casually today before the Sunday School lesson started.

Her smile with the perfect white teeth. Her energy. Her spirit.

"We're hanging in there. Our LDS partner walked off in the spring with everything....three hundred thousand dollars. He forged 94 checks."

I gulped.

"Mark's kidney is failing. He had a transplant 18 years ago...it's failing." She smiled, not a phony fake smile.

I stared.

"We have the Gospel, we love each other. It will work," Jerri said smiling.

I thought of a talk I heard many years ago. "What if we all put tattoos on our foreheads that told of the challenges we face in our lives. Would we be more compassionate, more understanding, more generous with our love, more spontaneous with our kindnesses, would there be more warmth in our greetings?"

She had come to church each week, smiling, encouraging, pleasant, doing her church calling, and who knew of the challenging situation she is facing? Not I.

Mark and Jerri are beautiful people - in many ways.