When a less active young women in our ward came to my mind this morning, I went to lds.org to see if I could find a good phone number for her and along with that info I found these links on the lds home page on love that I read through and was inspired by, it started my Monday off on a good note. So fitting for Valentine's Week!!! I just love the Gospel and all that it entails, I thought I'd share a few tidbits...
What comes to mind when you hear the word Sabbath?
What comes to mind when you hear the word Sabbath?
Church? Worship? Sunday School? A day off? A long nap? Family time? A holy day? A day of rest?
The Sabbath often brings to mind all of those things, and as of late, you could probably add words like #HisDay and “a delight” to the list. But how often do you associate the Sabbath with love? Have you ever thought that #HisDay might be all about love?
On a day where we have the opportunity to restart, recharge, and recommit, the love of a Father in Heaven has to be at the heart of such a gift.
As taught by President Henry B. Eyring, the Sabbath is a day of gratitude and love, and “what matters most is the love we feel for the givers of the gifts.”
So how do we express the love we have for “the givers of the gifts,” our loving Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ? We show love to others.
The Sabbath is “a day to offer our time, talent, and means in service to our God and our fellowmen.”
When we love and serve God, we love and serve His children. So while the Sabbath may equate to church, worship, Sunday School, a day off, a long nap, and family time, at its core, it’s much more than that. It’s a day of love.
We show love to God when we show up to church ready and willing to recommit to be better. We show love to our brothers and sisters when we come to church prepared to teach our classes in a way that they can feel the Spirit. We show love when we spend meaningful time with our family. We show love when pray to know who we can visit or reach out to who may be lonely or struggling. We show love when we shovel driveways, help someone move, and clean up after a storm—yes, even on a Sunday. Because if love is the “essence of the gospel” of Jesus Christ, it has to be the essence of the Sabbath.
President Russell M. Nelson painted a beautiful picture of this when he shared an experience he had with Elder M. Russell Ballard and other Church leaders while visiting Louisiana following devastating floods there.
“On Sunday, each of us held four large sacrament meetings, one for victims and three for volunteers who had come from many states to help with the cleanup,” he said.
“These photos give an idea of those Sabbath day congregations composed of hundreds wearing our trademark Mormon Helping Hands T-shirt. Note the many happy faces of young men and women who left their homes to help neighbors they did not know, amidst Louisiana’s sweltering summer heat, and who paused on the Sabbath to worship the Lord.”
They paused on the Sabbath to worship the Lord and then went to work serving others. They blessed the lives of those looking for help and healing following life-changing devastation. And they gave that help with smiles on their faces, dressed in T-shirts and jeans. Through their service on the Sabbath, strangers felt loved. Strangers became friends. Friends felt gratitude. And all felt the hand of God in their lives.
That’s what the Sabbath can be about—for all of us. You don’t need a natural disaster to find opportunities to serve. We all have life-altering circumstances at one time or another that shake us, leave us hoping for help and healing, and have us looking to God. The need and opportunities to rescue others, from all types of disasters—physical, emotional, and spiritual—are all around us.
Church, sacrament meeting, Sunday School, worship, rest—they’re all important. But they’re just moments of our Sabbath. The Sabbath is not a moment, it’s a day. We pause to do those things, and then we get to work, serving others as a means of showing love to them and to “the givers of the gifts.”
So on the Sabbath, pause. Pause to worship God. And then get to work. Because at the end of the day, #HisDay is for love.
Also an insert from a talk by Thomas S Monson "As I Have Loved You"
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”1
If we would keep the commandment to love one another, we must treat each other with compassion and respect, showing our love in day-to-day interactions. Love offers a kind word, a patient response, a selfless act, an understanding ear, a forgiving heart. In all our associations, these and other such acts help make evident the love in our hearts.
President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) observed: “Love … is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Yet it is more than the end of the rainbow. Love is at the beginning also, and from it springs the beauty that arches across the sky on a stormy day. Love is the security for which children weep, the yearning of youth, the adhesive that binds marriage, and the lubricant that prevents devastating friction in the home; it is the peace of old age, the sunlight of hope shining through death. How rich are those who enjoy it in their associations with family, friends, church, and neighbors.”2
Love is the very essence of the gospel, the noblest attribute of the human soul. Love is the remedy for ailing families, ill communities, and sick nations. Love is a smile, a wave, a kind comment, and a compliment. Love is sacrifice, service, and selflessness.
Husbands, love your wives. Treat them with dignity and appreciation. Sisters, love your husbands. Treat them with honor and encouragement.
Parents, love your children. Pray for them, teach them, and testify to them. Children, love your parents. Show them respect, gratitude, and obedience.
Without the pure love of Christ, Mormon counsels, “[we] are nothing.”3 My prayer is that we may follow Mormon’s counsel to “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that [we] may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that [we] may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him.”4
Reading this was inspiring and a great way to start off my Valentines week, makes me want to reach out to others more to spread the love and to give all of my family members a big hug and a kiss...I love them all so much! I think I'll incorporate some of this into a lesson on Love for FHE this evening for the fam!!
Happy early Valentines Day (tomorrow) XOXO
