I just was thinking this morning about how beautiful this world is. I love this time of year when the sun is what wakes me up in the morning and not some dreary rain cloud. I know that the time will come again where the rain clouds open up and flood us out, but that day is not today (at least not yet!). I am trying to take the time each day to recognize all of God's creations that surround us. And that includes the other people in this world. I realized on Wednesday when I was driving to work and saw the guy on the side of the freeway exit with the sign how easy it is for me to ignore people like that or just look right through them. A few summers ago I took a class at education week from Kathee Headlee, she is the founder of Mothers Without Borders. I learned a lot from what she said, but like everything else as soon as you get back to the day to day you forget.
In one of her classes she taught about how the power of charity makes us one with Christ. She said that when we serve others we remember who we are, whose we are, and who others are. I learned that the pure love of Christ never fails for me. There is no such thing as unconditional/conditional love. It is either love or it isn't. Charity is doing what needs to be done and not just when it is convenient. She referenced a talk by Neal A Maxwell in the June 1996 ensign: Becoming a Disciple. It is amazing, you should check it out sometime. Something that I learned from this talk is this: Christ suffered all things for me. If I do something to relieve someone else's suffering then I am relieving some of the suffering of the Savior. I think the final thought I will share on this subject is on the interdependence of the givers and the receivers of service. The receiver needs the giver for temporal salvation. But more importantly the giver needs the receiver for eternal salvation. Who needs who more? Who is serving whom?
Now, I am the last one to be any type of authority on the subject of charity. I drive by those people on the side of the road thinking the same thoughts as some of you: "if he really was looking for work he wouldn't be standing there begging" and a host of other judgemental thoughts. And maybe those things are true. But, when I read the scriptures I learn from the master teacher that Christ went unto the beggars and the thieves and those who were the outcasts of society. He knew them the same way that he knows me. I will never be perfect in this area, at least not any time soon. But I will be working on finding ways to serve. Even if it is something small, I want to serve everyday. I don't have to be enabling the poor choices of others, but I can show love for them and be charitable. If nothing else I want them to know that I see them. I do not see through them, I see them and I know who they are and whose they are. May we all find ways to serve each day, even if it is only in our own small families!
1 comments:
Very awesome post - the music was a nice touch too. With the music in the background while I read it was kind of like I was watching the touching part at the end of a movie where the main character is telling what they learned and their thoughts on life. I need these kind of reminders every now and then on being charitable. Don't you love when you get these random epiphanies? Thank you for sharing this. Amy
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