"Love is the very essence of the gospel, and Jesus Christ is our Exemplar. His life was a legacy of love" -President Thomas S. Monson

At the last LDS general conference, Elder Oaks gave a talk that has resonated with me. When it was given, all I could think was "Yes! Our church needs to hear this!" This is something that I have struggled with, but something that I have always wanted to perfect. To me, this is one of my biggest struggles between my natural man and my spirit. It is the commandment to love one another as Christ loves us. 

In my life I have been blessed to feel the love that my Father in Heaven has for me. I know that He loves me. I have also been blessed to feel some of the love that He has for many of His children. I have felt His love for people that are easy for me to love, and I have felt His love for people that are not so easy for me to love, but His love is the same for all. I think this is important to recognize before I dive into Elder Oaks' talk: that everyone is loved by God.

Something that I have noticed throughout my life is that the world's standards are deteriorating. In my opinion, the world is a scary place to live, but God asks us to live here. He doesn't tell us to conform to the way of the world, but He asks that we lift where we stand. Elder Oaks says: "We are to live in the world, but not of the world. We must live in the world because, as Jesus taught in a parable, His kingdom is "like levan," whose function is to raise the whole mass by its influence." Just as yeast cannot raise dough without being in the mixture, we cannot raise the world if we don't associate with people who have different beliefs than us.

Elder Oaks shares one of my favorite stories of Christ: "...His adversaries confronted Him with the woman who had been 'taken in adultery, in the very act'. When shamed by their own hypocrisy, the accusers withdrew and left Jesus alone with the woman. He treated her with kindness by declining to condemn her at that time, but He also firmly directed her to 'sin no more.'" In order to lift those around us, we must stay firm in our beliefs, but live in example of the pure love of Christ. As we stay fixed to the truth that we know, and love those around us, we allow the Savior to show His love for us and those we associate with.

I am nowhere close to being perfect in this aspect of the gospel, but it has always bothered me when I see family members shunning or "disowning" another family member because they have different beliefs or have chosen to live a different lifestyle. I get tired of people who say that they are followers of Christ, but they bully those around them or unrighteously judge another person because they believe in different practices. True followers of Christ love ALL. The Lord didn't command us to love everyone, unless they're different. We weren't commanded to love only followers of Christ. We were commanded to love one another, including our enemies, as Christ loves us. Yes, there are times where we need to "be wise in...exercising our influence" with others, but that doesn't mean that we can't love that person.

We are meant to have charity, which is the pure love of Christ. The only way we can obtain this virtue is by allowing the Savior into our lives. He is the source of peace and love. Through Him we can see our own potential and the potential and goodness of all we come in contact with.

I challenge us all to be a little kinder to one another. Judge less, love more.

.

Goals

As 2014 has come to an end, and 2015 has now begun, I've thought a lot about what I should do to improve my life over the next year. On New Year's Eve, I decided not to make any resolutions. My reasoning: I, like most people, set goals that last a week and then taper off. I've literally had the same (more or less) new year's resolutions for the past five years. I thought not making them, but just have little goals here and there, when I decide to make them, would be best. That was until I was sitting in sacrament meeting today. Our stake president started talking about goals. I honestly have no idea what he said, but I came home feeling like I needed to make a list of things that I want to accomplish this year. I know I've shared goals on here in the past (and it hasn't seemed to work), but if I know that my goals are out here for everyone to read, I feel more accountable to them.

I am not going to list all of my goals, but I have one in particular that I feel might help me improve myself, and this blog (or at least get me writing). My goal is to study the gospel more fully. I need to improve in this. I love the scriptures, and I love the prophets. I love their words and the comfort and spirit that is brought because of them. I do not take advantage of them as I should. Here's where this blog and accountability come into play. As I read and study a topic, a book of scripture, a lesson, etc. I will write my thoughts and feelings in a blog post. I would love to do this weekly, but working full-time and being a full-time student, I feel that a blog post once a week will not be realistic. So, I will post some thoughts from my studies monthly. *DISCLAIMER: I am not out for arguing and debating, I am stating what I feel and what I know to be right, I respect your beliefs, please respect mine.* 

I hope that as the New Year rolls around for you that you may set goals that improve yourself and the world around you. Don't get discouraged if you mess up or feel unaccomplished, Just remember that great things come by small processes. Be a little better today than you were yesterday and a little better tomorrow than you were today.