Love

For the past couple weeks, on Sunday nights I have been picking a Christ like attribute to work on during the week. Last week was Patience. I learned a lot and surprisingly feel a lot better about my patience. Yesterday, I decided to work on Love this week. Today I was reading some talks by President Uchtdorf--my favorite, and I came across a November 2009 Ensign talk called "The love of God." Heavenly Father really always knows exactly what I need!!!

I took three pages of notes on this talk--yes, it was THAT good!!

How do we become True Disciples of Jesus Christ?
When I first thought about this question .. I was like ... this has a billion answers. Seriously... how am I suppose to pick one?! Well, surprisingly enough the answer is simple! "If ye love me, keep my commandments" John 14:15. Easy right? Ok, so maybe not THAT easy ... but totally possible with some help from our Heavenly Father. As I kept reading I was kindly reminded that love, is the greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37-39 says, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." If we always try our best to love God and each other, our lives will have direction and meaning. We will never be steered down the wrong path. President Uchtdorf tells us, as well as providing direction in our lives and the Lord's Church here on earth this will also provide us direction for the Lord's Church on the other side of the veil! What a profound promise!

When we start to love God, and love others as ourselves ... our lives take on a new meaning. When we love God all of our priorities are align. "Obedience becomes a joy rather than a burden", because we are showing God that we love him by keeping his commandments!

But why should we Love God?
Just like we are taught that God doesn't NEED us to pray to him... God doesn't NEED us to love him. But WE NEED to love Him. President Uchtdorf says, "For what we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we think and do. What we think and do determines who we are-- and who we will become." If we choose not to love our Heavenly Father and instead love something or someone else more ... we will let go of the grip that we have on the iron rod. We will start choosing to put other things before scripture study, prayer, and even our church meetings. Slowly but surely we will loose total sight of the iron rod and be completely lost. I am so thankful for this knowledge so that I can do my best not to make these mistakes. But I do know that if I do ever loose sight of the iron rod or just my grip ... I can ALWAYS find it again. Which brings me to the next point.

Why does Heavenly Father Love us so much?
As no surprise to you or me, we are Heavenly Fathers children!! Why wouldn't he love us? We are created in His image. Just as your parents love you and would do anything in the world for you, Heavenly Father loves us just as much and even more. Everyday, here on this earth we make mistakes ... we hurt peoples feelings ... and sometimes choose not to love one another because of our flaws. Great news is, is that Heavenly Father will ALWAYS love us no matter how wicked, poor, or selfish we might be. So back to my point, if we loose sight of that iron rod or just our grip, we can ALWAYS find our way back!! " What this means is that, regardless of our current state, there is hope for us. No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow, no matter our mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires that we draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us."

So, just like our testimony should be strengthened everyday, and become more strong ... so should our love for god increase everyday and become stronger.

How can we increase our Love for God?
"God is love, the closer we approach him, the more profoundly we experience love."

As I read this part of the talk, I made a list of everything that I can do to become closer to God and feel his love ... that way I can increase my love for Him by doing these things.
-We must seek the spirit
-Keep his commandments, all of his commandments ... not just the easy ones
-Talk to him ALL the time EVERYWHERE and about EVERYTHING. D&C 19:28 says, "And again, I command thee that thou shalt pray vocally as well as in thy heart; yea, before the world as well as in secret, in public as well as in private."
-Proclaim publicly that we love Him.
-Share are testimony with others
-Align our thoughts and actions with His
-Read the scriptures
-Listen to General Conference
-Visit the Temple
-Study the words of His Latter-Day prophets
-Listen and do what he asks
-ENDURE TO THE END

Be still and quiet, listen for Heavenly Fathers voice in all things. Listen for it in the temple, during General Conference talks, while in nature or reading your scriptures. I know that when I make time for Heavenly Father and do not rush ... I hear his voice and I have confirmation that He really does LOVE me.

To conclude, I will share my favorite quote from this talk. "Love is the healing balm that repairs rifts in person and family relationships. It is the bond that unites families, communities, and nations. Love is the power that initiates friendship, tolerance, civility, and respect. It is the source that overcomes divisiveness and hate. Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope. Love should be our walk and our talk.




It is only Monday ... and that is what I have learned about Love so far this week. Let's hope I can put it to good use! I have 6 more days before I pick my next Christ like attribute to focus on!! I'm going to be a ball full of knowledge!