Sister Letha Scrivner wrote:
I was very inspired by returned Elder Dunlap’s talk a few weeks ago, when he spoke about the purpose of this life is To Become. My favorite point of discussion is our father’s work and glory (Moses 1:39), and our ability to progress and grow into the people that we are divinely designed to be — remembering that we are so much more than we think we are, and the people in our lives are so much more than we see, and every person on this earth is just barely tapping into their divine heritage.
My mind frequently recalls the words of Christ speaking to his apostles in Jerusalem and in the Americas when he instructs, “I would that ye should be perfect, even as I, or your Father in Heaven, is perfect” (3 Ne 12:48)
If we are to be like Christ or Heavenly Father, we must learn their characteristics, their traits, their values, and their attitudes. Through continuous study, we can learn these things. But I want to focus on one verse in the New Testament, which states “God is love.” (1 John 4:8)
For this purpose, I would like to focus on this trait. Really, this is such a huge topic and covers so much and is woven into every aspect of the gospel of Jesus Christ that if I were to discuss every aspect that is worth covering, we’d be here awhile. . . .
So with our limited time, I would like to focus on three points:
Love works, Love teaches, Love sees:
Love Works
Love is much like faith. As was said by James the Apostle, “Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (James 2:17). You cannot say you have faith and then do nothing about it; it must be acted upon. So such is love. Christ commanded, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15) and “If ye love me, feed my sheep” (John 21:16). Keeping and feeding take effort and energy — doing things takes energy.
So how does our love work? What does that mean? What does it look like?
It can come in the form of service projects, groups of faithful LDS folks in yellow shirts, cleaning communities and rebuilding homes damaged by storms. These people love their neighbors, and actively work to improve their lives and ease their hardship through taking on tasks that are too much to bear alone.
Love works by listening to grieving friends, holding them near, and helping them shoulder responsibilities and obligations that are painful.
Love works by reaching out, checking in, listening to the promptings of the Spirit, and being “anxiously engaged in a good cause.” (Doctrine & Covenants 58:27) And I’d like to add to this: being anxiously engaged in a good cause that is focused on the needs of another person. The work of love manifests outwardly.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton’s 1975 talk, “Love Takes Time” touches on this magnificently. He recounts a father “upon returning home from his day’s work, [he] greeted his boy with a pat on the head and said, ‘Son, I want you to know I love you.’ The son responded with ‘Oh, Dad, I don’t want you to love me, I want you to play football with me.’” Elder Ashton goes on in his address to detail that a love declared but not acted upon is no love at all.
It’s been said so many times that if you want to love someone, serve them. And in my experience, ehhhhh. Sometimes this is true, sometimes it’s not. But what I can testify of is that when I do care about someone, I get to work. Because I love my mom, I drove to Albuquerque every weekend after I moved here in order to help her complete renovations to prepare the house to sell. Because I love my dad, I used my skills to alleviate his physical pain to the best of my understanding. Because I love my friends, I will go through the trouble of cleaning my house to make them comfortable when they come over. Because I love my God and my Jesus, I spend time with them through the study of scripture. Because I love my boyfriend, I study doctrine so that I am prepared to answer questions he may have about the Church.
(continued. . . )
