It is the eve of Easter and my heart is full, overflowing, with love, appreciation, and deep gratitude for my Savior and the possibilities He provides me; repentance, forgiveness, eternal life. How can I ever repay Him? The fact is, I can't. I cannot offer Him anything that is equal to His offering to me. I will always fall short and be indebted to Him, but I will also continue trying my best to repay Him, by striving to live a good life, serving others, and showing Christ-like love to my fellow man.
I have been thinking a lot lately about why difficult things happen to good people; people who try to do the right things, people who serve others. It's a silly question really, especially on the Eve of Easter. Our Savior Jesus Christ was the best person to ever walk the earth and yet, even He faced the most difficult thing imaginable. He faced all of our difficulties. ALL of them! Whenever I ponder on the atonement, my mind begins to feel overwhelmed because of the depth and intensity that He surely experienced. I imagine that I can't even scratch the surface of understanding. What He did in the Garden of Gethsemane, and then at Golgotha is beyond my capability for understanding. So, I choose to be grateful. Grateful that He lived his perfect life, and gave me an example of how I should strive to live. Grateful that He is merciful and forgiving and comforts me when I stumble over and over and over. Grateful for His unconditional love.
I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me. I tremble to know that for me he was crucified, That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.
Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me Enough to die for me! Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!
I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine, That he should extend his great love unto such as I, Sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify.
I think of his hands pierced and bleeding to pay the debt! Such mercy, such love and devotion can I forget? No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat, Until at the glorified throne I kneel at his feet
-I Stand All Amazed, Hymn #193
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. -John 15:13
One of my favorite things about participating in Pathway is that it has given me the opportunity to work on developing attributes of Christ. Last semester we chose just one attribute to focus on, and I chose to be prayerful. It was a wonderful experience that helped me understand more deeply my need for the Savior and the importance of communing with my Father in Heaven. Even though I spent 12 weeks focusing on being more prayerful, I am still a work in progress and will always be striving to become a prayerful person like the Savior. Nevertheless, these experiences of focusing on a specific attribute have been a powerful practice in my life, and I plan to continue working to develop specific attributes even when I have finished the Pathway program.
This semester, we have been able to choose three different attributes and focus on them for four weeks at a time. Earlier this semester I chose the attributes Gratitude
and Service as the qualities of Christ that I would like to develop. It
has been wonderful to center my life on these traits and as I have looked
inward to develop gratitude, and outward to develop service, I have
felt changes in my attitude and found more happiness in my life. Now,
with the opportunity to look upward, I have chosen to work on developing
Charity, the pure love of Christ.
For me, developing Charity
encompasses the qualities of brotherly kindness, love, compassion, and
sincere generosity. I have chosen charity because I struggle with having
kind thoughts towards those who annoy me, are unkind towards me or
others, and those who are unpleasant to be around. I know that the
Savior lived his life with perfect love for all, even those
who betrayed him, mocked him, tortured him, and ultimately crucified him. I
know that if I strive to live more like the Savior and focus my efforts
on becoming more charitable, I can overcome this weakness. I want to be
more generous in my thoughts towards my fellow man, even those who are
“hard to love”, ....like Donald Trump :)
I also want to continue working to fill my life
with service and acts of kindness for others with a cheerful
heart. I want to be like the Savior and have compassion on my fellow
man. I want to create a legacy of love for others that my children can
learn from and work to develop in their lives also.
My plan for incorporating this attribute into my life is to do these specific and deliberate things each and every day:
Pray each morning for opportunities to show kindness, love, and compassion.
Ask
my Heavenly Father each morning for the ability to think kind thoughts
towards others even in the most difficult circumstances.
Study and search in the scriptures for examples of charity. Highlight them and write my thoughts about them in my journal.
Make
service a priority by choosing to serve someone, even simple random acts of
kindness, every day and write about my progress each night in my
journal.
When unkind thoughts go through my mind, I will make a dedicated effort to change the negative thought into a positive.
Report to my Heavenly Father every night on how the day went.
I
expect that having generous thoughts will be the hardest aspect of this
project, but it is the thing I am most hoping to overcome. Whenever I
have unkind thoughts towards others, I don’t feel good about myself and
know that I am judging them in my heart. I want to turn this weakness
into a strength by changing those negative thoughts into kind and
positive thoughts so I will work very hard over these next two weeks to
see real change in myself.
I have searched the scriptures for
verses that support this attribute and plan, and feel validated
that this is the attribute I should work on. As I chose these verses, I
felt the Holy Ghost confirm to me that this was the path I needed to
walk. I am grateful for that and know that it will provide me more
resolve to do my very best.
3 Nephi 12:44 – “But
behold I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you
and persecute you;” This scripture reminds me of the way the Savior
lived. He did these things perfectly, and I know that this is how I too need
to live. If I can strive to apply these teachings to my life, I can
overcome the negative and unkind thoughts I have towards others.
Ether 12:34-35 – “And
now I know that this love which thou hast had for the children of men
is charity; wherefore, except men shall have charity they cannot inherit
that place which thou hast prepared in the mansions of thy Father.
Wherefore, I know by this thing which thou hast said, that if the
Gentiles have not charity, because of our weakness, that thou wilt prove
them, and take away their talent, yea, even that which they have
received, and give unto them who shall have more abundantly.” These
verses serve as a warning to me that if I do not strive to develop
charity, I will not receive all the blessings my Heavenly Father has in
store for me.
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 iniquity 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.” This passage sums up
exactly how I want to live my life and when I feel discouraged, I can
read this and remember how important it is to have charity in thought,
word, and deed.
Moroni 10:32 – “Yea,
come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all
ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and
love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace
sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and
if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny
the power of God.” This is my favorite scripture of all time, (and the namesake for this blog!) and is
the verse that provides me the most comfort and hope. I know that as I
strive to develop charity and work to deny myself of all ungodliness,
that the Savior’s grace will be sufficient to perfect me. I know that this
will be a lifetime of effort, and not just a four week effort, but this
is the verse that gives me the strength to endure to the end and to work
with all my might, mind and strength. I am so grateful for the promise
of grace and the Savior’s love and mercy to make up the difference when I
fall short.
I love this Bible Video that depicts Paul teaching the importance of Charity, or the pure love of Christ.
