love

In 1st John, Chapter 4, Verse 7 we read:
.. let us a love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth
is born of God, and knoweth God.

Upon returning home from his day’s work, a father greeted his boy with a pat on the head and said, “Son, I want you to know I love you.”

The son responded with, “Dad, I don’t want you to love me, I want you to play football with me.”
Isn’t that true?
That the very most important thing about love is not saying it.
But rather, what we do and how we show that love?

Elder Marvin J. Ashton said,
The world is filled with too many of us who are inclined to indicate our love
with an announcement or declaration.
Love demands ACTION if it is to be continuing.
Love is a process.

A process…
Which to me means,
Love takes TIME.
True love is selfless. It is completely and utterly forgetting oneself in the love of others.

Of course….
When I was writing this talk, I thought mostly of improving my action of LOVE in accordance with those who I am around most..
my children and husband.
Who, unfortunately, in the midst of our busy daily lives are sometimes the ones I forget to
slow down, take time and SHOW love to.
But, along with those I live with, I also thought of others.. friends or family who I see frequently or only a few times a year, those I visit teach or serve in my calling and even strangers I see at the grocery store or the park.

In the book True to the Faith, we are counseled:
Our love for those around us increases when we remember that we are all children of God—that we are spirit brothers and sisters. The love that results from this realization has the power to transcend all boundaries of nation, creed, and color.

In a book I am currently reading, called the Creative Family, the author gives the following simple advice:
Take things a bit slower when you’re out in the world so you have the time to say “thank you” with a smile. And thank your children! Simply because something is expected doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be recognized. Tell them you’re grateful for them every single day.

What better way to show love to those around us then by expressions of gratitude?

On Friday I went shopping with all three kids to Trader Joe’s.
Now, if you’ve ever been in Trader Joe’s, you’ll notice that it’s small.
Small aisles, small carts and lots of people.
So, there I was with my short list that suddenly didn’t seem so short anymore because along with getting all the items on my list, I also had in tow:

a talkative three year old who wanted to touch everything in sight as well as help push the cart in every other directions other than the one it was supposed to go,

a six year old who was obviously hungry because she was asking to buy everything in every aisle we went down whining loudly when I said “no”.

not to mention a four month old who was struggling with every movement to extract herself from the baby bjorn I had her strapped in.

I finally made it through the store with everyone and everything intact and all the items from my list in the cart, {give or take a few.}

and breathed a huge sigh of relief as we got in line to checkout.

Not a moment later an older lady walked straight up to me and said,
“I’ve been watching you and your family and just had to tell you how well behaved your children are. I’ve been there before and know how hard it is and I wanted to tell you that you’re doing a wonderful job.”

Well, the stress of shopping with three kids and the relief at being done and her saying that when I was at my weakest brought instant tears to my eyes. I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for this kind, kind woman who didn’t just passively observe us and move on, but had the initiative to come up to us and tell us what she thought.

After she walked away I told the kids what she had said and in turn, expressed gratitude to them for being so good. Even though in the midst of the chaos I hadn’t noticed it, they were well behaved.

They were just being kids.

And I was just being a stressed out mom. For the rest of the day, I periodically thanked them for being such good kids. And when I tucked them into bed reminded them of how much I loved them and am grateful for them.

I wonder if that woman knew what a chain reaction she started on Friday? And what an angelic answer to prayers she was?

I wonder if any of us know what would happen if we were to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost to say something or do something when we’re inspired to. To show love to those around us.

In a 1998 First Presidency Message entitled How do we Show our Love? President Monson said:

Of all the blessings I have had in my life, one of the sweetest is that feeling the Lord provides when I know that He has answered the prayer of another person THROUGH me. As we love the Lord, as we love our neighbor, we discover that our Heavenly Father will answer the prayers of others through our ministry.

Paul’s parents just left on Tuesday after spending last weekend with us. They usually come and visit us a few times a year and whenever they come they do the same three things:

ONE They do the dishes after every meal.
TWO They spend time with the kids. {and I mean down on the floor playing cars or drawing with them or reading stacks and stacks of books for hours at a time.}
And THREE they say thank you and give honest, heartfelt compliments of how proud and grateful they are for all of us.

They never do these things half hearted. They are done with their full attention and done the best they know how. Those three things and many other things they do for us, show us how much they truly love us. They are acts of love that will never be forgotten.

There are everyday instances where we can express and practice love the way the Savior taught.

In True to the Faith we are reminded that in serving others we are not only expressing our love towards them but to our Heavenly Father. I quote:

Our expressions of love for others may include
being kind to them, listening to them, mourning with them, comforting them, serving them,
praying for them, sharing the gospel with them, and being their friend.

In all of the scriptures, do we ever read of the Savior declining a chance to teach, to perform a miracle, or to display his godly love?

If we are to follow his example, if we are to show our love to God, we must do the same. When we are with the ones we love, we should forget email, that project we need or want to get done, forget phone calls and texts and our to-do lists and just BE with the ones we love.

All of the other things can wait.

And no, I’m not forgetting about life. I’m not forgetting that laundry still needs to be done, as well as dishes, homework, lessons and housework.

I’m only saying that when you’re with the ones you love, BE WITH THEM.

My disclaimer before I finish, is that I’m not saying I do this all of the time. Or even some of the time. I’m not saying it’s easy. But it’s what we should do if we are to follow the Savior’s counsel.

Once again, from true to the faith, we read:
Our love for those around us increases when we remember that we are all children of God—that we are spirit brothers and sisters.

I echo Elder Marvin J. Ashton in saying,

I pray our Heavenly Father will help us to learn the truth that meaningful love is a continuing process that will bring joy and happiness to all participating parties.
May we take the time to show our families, our friends, the stranger, our prophet, and our God that our declarations of love are backed up by performance by our daily lives, that we know for love to be acceptable to God and man it must be continuing and originate from within.

I am grateful for this life and the chance I have to better myself each and every day. I am grateful for Paul who loves me and serves me and who for some reason thinks I am better than I actually am. I am grateful for my sweet children from whom I have learned the value of slowing down and enjoying the little things in life. I am thankful for my Savior and the atonement. Without which I would not have the blessing of repenting and improving myself. And I am thankful to a Heavenly Father who knows me and whom I strive to know and stay close to. I know that without his guidance, I could do nothing.

Let me close by returning to 1st John Chapter 4 where we read in verse 10:
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he love us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
..if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Christ

i know i've probably blogged about this chapter before but i just read it in my daily reading this morning and it touched me once again. i love the word of God.

He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.

Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price.

Behold hath he commanded any that they should depart out of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.

Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance.

Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden.