Lets talk about love.
I don't mean the gooey, sappy, over-inflated, totally infatuated, young-married-couple kind of love. Nor am I referring to that disturbing romance novel-turned Hollywood film that everyone is talking about lately. I mean real, true love. Pure love. Christ-Like love.
I mean charity.
"But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him." -Book of Mormon, Moroni 7:47
Around this time of year especially, its easy to think that if you don't have, "a special someone" in your life, that you don't have love. But if that's what you think, you're wrong. There is so much more to love than just holding hands and blowing kisses. Charity goes beyond sending flowers, secret notes, and delicious chocolates to someone attractive.
Charity is the pure love of Christ. Just think about that for a minute. What does that mean? The pure love of Christ. The first thing I think of when I hear the word "pure" is the color white. Clean. Innocent. Unstained. The second thing I think of is a child. Clean. Innocent. Unstained. How does a child love? My mind is brought back to being a nanny and having the 8 year old boy that I helped take care of bring me a drawing of a rainbow. "I love rainbows," I had said to him not 10 minutes earlier, "They're one of my favorite things." I think of the 2 year old girl saying, "Hi Lacie!" every morning when I came up the stairs. Or the 4 year old who tackled me with hugs. The 6 year old who wanted to sit and talk with me when I was alone. "Don't you want to go play?" I asked. "No. I just want to be with you," she smiled.
Children seem to have charity down to an art.
"And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." -Moroni 7:45
Well, that about sums it up doesn't it?
Kind of a tall order.
Sometimes I look at this list and wonder, "How can I ever accomplish all of this? Why should I even bother trying?" Serving a mission, I felt so much love for so many people. Coming home, being released, and being left without those extra blessings of the Spirit that come from being set apart as a servant of the Lord, was a heavy let down. I was warned about this feeling, but I'll be honest, I didn't really believe it would be that much of a difference. I was wrong.
The past few months I've been struggling to figure out who I am, where I am going, and what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. Quite the change from 18 months of thinking about, worrying about, and praying for every other person I came in contact with. Its been so stressful! And I thought a mission was hard.
Six months home, and I'm just starting to scratch the surface of balance. Yes, I need to think about myself, I need to have some sort of direction for my life, but I also need to be working on developing these qualities. So that's what I'm doing. Its a slow and occasionally painful process. It requires putting aside my pride. It requires reaching out. I know I keep talking about this, but honestly, its because reaching out is so hard for me. Since being home, all I've really wanted to do is be alone, or with people who I already know. Forget about making new friends. Forget about charity.
Yeah, no. Not cool.
So what to do. After a somewhat chastising church meeting addressing the importance of deep scripture study, I made up my mind to do just that. Study charity. So that's what I've been doing. For the past week I've focused all of my studies and my goals on obtaining charity, the pure love of Christ. I have so many areas that need improvement. I'm really glad my test of life isn't over yet, because I'm going to need all the extra time I can get to get this one down.
But, here's what I've learned so far.
-"...charity edifieth..." In other words, charity builds up, strengthens, establishes, and repairs (1 Corinthians 8:1).
-"Rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep." (Romans 12:15) I take this to mean, listen with your heart. And then apply the previous scripture.
-"Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." (Romans 13:10) When we feel true charity towards one another, we won't want to hurt one eachtother. Have you ever noticed how all of the commandments are based on either loving God or loving our neighbor? No wonder the Savior said that those were the two greatest commandments in the law. Keep those and the rest will follow...
These are just a few of the main points I've picked up this week. Now to apply them in my life... I'd like to start off my application by apologizing to any of you that I may have brushed off in the past few months. I promise its nothing that you've done. Like I said, I've got a lot to work on when it comes to charity. I'd also like to thank those of you who have been an example of charity to me, who have listened, loved, and lifted in my times of trial. Keep doing what you're doing.
And finally, I'll wrap this post up with one last scripture from the Book of Mormon. This has always been one of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon. It is a plea from an ancient prophet, written to us, in our day, begging us to do all we can to obtain charity:
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of Go; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may purified even as he is pure. Amen." (Moroni 7:48).
