Love and Action

The third talk during General Conference was given by Walter F. Gonzales, from the Presidency of the Seventy.
The very first thing I was grateful to hear was the fact that there are people inside and outside of the church who desire to follow Christ. I know so many amazing and wonderful people who are not of my same faith. I fear that at times it may appear that members of the church think they are better than others because of the fullness of the gospel we are blessed with. This is not so. We are no better than anyone. In fact, we have more responsibilities placed upon us because of this knowledge. The responsibility to share the gospel with those around us demands love. With love, all things are possible. We must be a loving people in order to be effective.
I served as the Young Women's President for a time. This gave me the responsibility to guide, direct and teach girls ages 12 to 18 about the gospel of Jesus Christ. In doing this, I went full-board. I am fully committed to the gospel and expected as much from these teenagers who may not be as fully converted. I lost sight of this as I determined to make sure they knew what I knew. Obviously, this didn't work out too well. I wasn't coming to them in an understanding light. I had the skewed idea that since we had all grown up in the church (most of those who attended regularly were born to parents who were already members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), we would make the same decisions and have similar insight into the gospel. I wasn't trying to make them accountable for what I knew at the age of 26, but believed that they would know the things I knew at the age of 12-18. It became a frustrating situation for many involved and there are probably still some hurt feelings because of it. However, I hope I have learned the importance of love. In like manner, I am currently trying to love a leader who I disagree with the way this person handles his duties. I had the impression today that I should be more patient with this individual and know that the Lord had to put me through my experience to learn the value of love just as, hopefully, this individual comes to realize that being bull-headed/passionate about one way to complete the work isn't as valuable to the world as love. Had I or this individual approached our callings in the beginning with love, the path that followed may have been greatly different and definitely more effective.
The second aspect of this talk was that we should make and keep covenants. I was reading an article in this month's Ensign and the statement that "The covenants I made at baptism and the covenants I made in the temple are as valid today as the day I made them." Too many forget this, myself included. At baptism I promised to follow Christ. There are too many times that I become selfish. Granted, I don't view myself as a "bad person" but rather as someone who can still improve. I have hope that I will become the daughter of God that I can become. I have the responsibility because of my knowledge and experiences with the Spirit to share the gospel and the full blessings of heaven with those who are around me. There are many out there who already know Christ. They are, perhaps, more prepared at this time to receive the fullness of the gospel. There is so much more available for those who desire it. God wants us to return to him, but there are requirements. We must make and keep covenants. We can't have a one day or one time "conversion" experience or as some refer to it as "being saved". We must constantly strive to feel the Spirit's direction in our lives. In doing this, we can't be selfish. We have to overcome our fears of man and be willing to share the gospel with each and every person around us. Like I stated in the previous paragraph, we also have to do that with love. We can't be bull-headed. We must love the person first and follow the Spirit's direction, not our own. We don't know when our friends will be ready to receive the gospel but we should be prepared to answer questions, give guidance and follow the promptings of the Spirit because God does know what is going on in their lives to lead them to that point.
I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for His love and sacrifice. To show my love for Him, I share my testimony in the words of this blog, the words of my mouth and my actions in this life. Please forgive me for my mistakes and lesser understanding as I go along. I am learning and growing along with the rest of the human race.