Friday, November 12, 2010

charity never faileth

Moroni 7:45-47
"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 inquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth.  Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail --
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."

"Charity never faileth" is the motto for Relief Society, the women's organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I love it.  Charity never fails, but sometimes we fail to have charity.  The phrases "is not easily provoked" and "suffereth long" and "endureth all things" especially speak to me as a mother.  It is really hard to stay calm when you're frustrated, but this scripture teaches us how we should be.  If we always have the pure love of Christ in our hearts, we will be kind and not let our feathers get ruffled easily.  Pure love works.  It never fails.

I also love the story that President Monson shared recently in his talk, "Charity Never Faileth."  He talked about not being critical and judgmental of others:

A young couple, Lisa and John, moved into a new neighborhood. One morning while they were eating breakfast, Lisa looked out the window and watched her next-door neighbor hanging out her wash. 


“That laundry’s not clean!” Lisa exclaimed. “Our neighbor doesn’t know how to get clothes clean!” 


John looked on but remained silent. 


Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, Lisa would make the same comments. 


A few weeks later Lisa was surprised to glance out her window and see a nice, clean wash hanging in her neighbor’s yard. She said to her husband, “Look, John—she’s finally learned how to wash correctly! I wonder how she did it.” 


John replied, “Well, dear, I have the answer for you. You’ll be interested to know that I got up early this morning and washed our windows!” 


Tonight I’d like to share with you a few thoughts concerning how we view each other. Are we looking through a window which needs cleaning? Are we making judgments when we don’t have all the facts? What do we see when we look at others? What judgments do we make about them?

I also like these thoughts he shared from Mother Teresa:

Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” The Savior has admonished, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”  I ask: can we love one another, as the Savior has commanded, if we judge each other? And I answer—with Mother Teresa: no, we cannot.

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