From his book ‘To My Friends,’ Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared;
. . . the prophets tell us that true love “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”12 Once again that is ultimately a description of Christ’s love—He is the great example of one who bore and believed and hoped and endured. We are invited to do the same in our relationships to the best of our ability. Bear up and be strong. Be hopeful and believing. Some things in life we have no control over. These have to be endured. Some disappointments have to be lived with in love and marriage. These are not things that anyone wants in life but sometimes they come. And when they come we have to bear them, we have to believe, we have to hope for an end.
One of the great purposes of true love is to help each other in these times. No one ought to have to face such trials alone. We can endure almost anything if we have someone on our side who truly loves us, who is easing the burden and lightening the load. In this regard a friend from the faculty of Brigham Young University, Professor Brent Barlow told me some years ago about plimsoll marks.
As a youth in England, Samuel Plimsoll was fascinated with watching ships load and unload their cargoes. He soon observed that regardless of the cargo space available, each ship had a maximum capacity. If a ship exceeded its limit it would likely sink at sea. In 1868, Plimsoll entered Parliament and passed a merchant act that, among other things, called for making calculations of how much a ship could carry. As a result, lines were drawn on the hull of each ship. As the cargo was loaded the freighter would sink lower and lower into the water. When the water level on the side of the ship reached the Plimsoll mark, the ship was considered loaded to capacity, regardless how much space remained. As result, British deaths at sea were greatly reduced.
Like ships, people have differing capacities at different times and even different days in their lives. In our relationships we need to establish our own Plimsoll marks and help identify them in the lives of those we love. Together we need to monitor the load levels and be helpful in shedding or at least readjusting some cargo if we see our sweethearts sinking. Then, when the ship of love is stabilized, we can evaluate long term what has to continue, what can we put off until another time, and what can be put off permanently. Friends, sweethearts, and spouses need to be able to monitor each other’s stress and recognize the different tides and seasons of life. We owe it to each other to declare some limits and then jettison some things if emotional health and the strength of loving relationships are at risk. Remember—pure love “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” and helps loved ones do the same.~Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, To My Friends (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2014), 114-116 Dwarsligger®
Posts with a preamble asterisk are for a more general audience, not specific to teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
