Charity

I am not dead. I am still alive. I have felt like I have fallen off the face of the earth though. I would like to blame it on my School Law class this semester but that excuse rings hollow and...lame.

I have had lots of thoughts about things. I have learned some pretty good lessons lately. I have been happy, stressed, and anxious. I have been a bit frightened as I read the news around the world. Things are crazy.

The first thought that comes to mind lately has revolved around the need for charity. In the scriptures we are told that if "ye have not charity, ye are nothing" (Moroni 7:44). Why are we nothing?

There are a lot of things that we need to be striving for in our lives. Honesty, integrity, hard work, obedience. There are many commandments we need to learn to obey. We can master everything, but if we fail at loving our fellowman, what was the point of any of it. First and foremost, God is love. He loves his children. Yes, we need to obey a number of commandments, which by so doing we are protected from all sorts of problems, but charity, the pure love of Christ takes our focus from ourselves, to those around this. It is pretty hard to have charity by' only practicing on ourselves. This is a hard thing for me, but the Lord has made a way. Moroni says, "Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love." (Moroni 7:48). I don't think that this love comes in any other way. Life is too full of problems and conflicts to think we can develop charity on our own. I think that we can get pretty far by self-control, but the feeling of love towards others, real love, comes from God, and we have to ask for it. God makes it happen for us. It may be through some trials involving other people. It may be that we have to endure some hardships to be schooled in the ways of charity. That is okay, because it conditions us to seek for God's love, which gives us understanding. If He can love us regardless of our faults, and we can recognize that love, then we can love others. We love him because He first loved us (John 4:19). When we know he loves us, asking for charity becomes something we want. Naturally.

It is interesting to me that people who have the most charity have oftentimes suffered the most. They have earned it by staying faithful through adversity. They have turned the other cheek in moments of shame and humiliation at the hands of others. They (have) look(ed) to God and lived (Alma 37:47).

Garden of Gethsemane picture taken from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Retrieved from: http://lds.org/scriptures/bc/scriptures/content/english/bible-maps/images/03990_000_bible-photo-12.jpg
The Garden Tomb Picture take from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Retrieved from: http://lds.org/scriptures/bc/scriptures/content/english/bible-maps/images/03990_000_bible-photo-14.jpg