Charity Never Faileth

I spoke in church today.  I like to keep my talks on my blog to inspire me when I'm having a hard time; to save for my posterity to read someday; and maybe to inspire someone else that happens to read here.  I hope you enjoy. 

Charity never faileth, has been the Relief Society motto for 182 years today. I'd like to share some of my thoughts on why the world needs charity and the Relief Society.

When I was 17 years old, I graduated from high school.  The following week, my Relief Society presidency came to my home to welcome me to our ward’s Relief Society and give me my first Relief Society lesson manual.  I knew some of these women, as the moms of some of my friends.  I thought they were very nice, but also thought they were very old and I didn’t feel ready to leave Young Women's.  

I did go to Relief Society though, and in the room there was a beautiful calligraphed quote framed on the wall that said, “We must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another, and gain instruction that we may all sit down in heaven together.” by Lucy Mack Smith.  I thought those words were so inspiring and they have stuck with me all these years.

A couple weeks later I left home to attend Brigham Young University, starting summer term.  I became an active part of my Relief Society there, which were all single students, and were relatively my same age.  After four years, I graduated from BYU and got married the following week.  Leonard and I then started attending a married-student ward for the next two years.  After he graduated, we moved to England for him to earn a master’s degree.  After being in student wards for six years, this would be my first time in a regular Relief society with sisters’ ages ranging from 18 to 99+.  And you know what?  I loved it!  Our little ward in Canterbury felt more like a branch and I made great friends with sisters young and old.  This experience helped me when we moved here to Ottawa three years later, with our 6 month-old twins in tow, not knowing a single soul.  It is intimidating to move where you have no extended family or friends. 

Once again, my Relief Society sisters welcomed me and my family with open arms, and almost immediately I did have friends.  The Relief Society presidency came to visit me again, got to know me, and assigned ministering sisters who came faithfully to see me.  I also attended our monthly activity meetings, where more friendships were made and strengthened.  During our Sunday lessons, my testimony was strengthened by the firm and faithful sisters of this ward.  And two years later, when my daughter was challenged with life-threatening encephalitis, many sisters came to our family’s aid to bring us a home-cooked meal at the hospital and to share our burden of worry until she recovered. I learned first hand by example on how to give compassionate service. 

After three years in this ward, we were to move again, this time to Taipei, Taiwan.  Shortly before this move, I contracted pneumonia.  Again, my Relief Society sisters stepped up and helped me clean the home we were renting before we moved out.  Leonard also asked our ministering brothers to help him give me a blessing.  The brother that gave my blessing said that the Lord was preparing friends for me in Taiwan.  I thought that was odd, as I really was hoping for a blessing of healing so I could do all the things I needed to do to prepare for that move.  However, after we arrived in Taiwan, I realized what a wonderful blessing that was. 

Being a part of Relief Society, a global organization in over 188 countries, with almost 8 million members, means I can instantly make friends no matter where I live.  I experienced this again in India.  India has 23 official languages, and our little branch in Mumbai had members that spoke five different languages.  I remember teaching a Relief Society lesson in English, then one sister would translate to Hindi, then another sister would translate to Marathi.  Our sisters that spoke Tamil or Telugu rarely had the lessons translated for them. 

However, they came each week to learn by the spirit and to share our combined love for each other and the gospel.  I hope I will experience this again in France after we move this summer, as there isn’t an English ward in Paris, and I don’t speak French.

According to Wikipedia, The Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational women's organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was founded on March 17, 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, United States.  The Relief Society is often referred to as "one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world.”  The purpose of Relief Society reads, “Relief Society helps prepare women for the blessings of eternal life as they increase faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and His Atonement; strengthen individuals, families, and homes through ordinances and covenants; and work in unity to help those in need.”  

Emma Smith, wife of Joseph Smith, and first president of the Relief Society remarked that, "Each member should be ambitious to do good and seek out and relieve the distressed.”  Joseph Smith recorded, "I attended by request, the Female Relief Society, whose object is the relief of the poor, the destitute, the widow and the orphan, and for the exercise of all benevolent purposes. …I feel convinced that with their concentrated efforts, the condition of the suffering poor, of the stranger and the fatherless will be ameliorated"  

After the saints left Nauvoo and settled in Salt Lake City, Eliza R Snow, the second president of the Relief Society described its purpose, “to seek not only for the relief of the poor, but the accomplishment of every good and noble work.”

We have a rich heritage and legacy that is flourishing today.

President Spencer W. Kimball was the prophet when I was a little girl, and he said, “To be a righteous woman is a glorious thing in any age. To be a righteous woman during the winding up scenes on this earth, before the second coming of our Savior, is an especially noble calling. The righteous woman’s strength and influence today can be tenfold what it might be in more tranquil times. She has been placed here to help to enrich, to protect, and to guard the home—which is society’s basic and most noble institution. Other institutions in society may falter and even fail, but the righteous woman can help to save the home, which may be the last and only sanctuary some mortals know in the midst of storm and strife.”

President Kimball also said, “Much of the major growth that is coming to the church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world will be drawn to the church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the church are seen as distinct and different-in happy ways-from the women of the world.”

In response to these quotes, President Russell M. Nelson said, “The day that President Kimball foresaw is today. You are the women he foresaw.”

I hope each woman here today will feel inspired to rise up and be those righteous women that were prophesied about.  I also hope the men, youth, and children will feel ways we can all be more charitable.

  

Some synonyms of charity are:  almsgiving, benevolence, compassion, generosity, mercy, relief.  The bible dictionary defines charity as, "The highest, noblest, strongest kind of love, not merely affection; the pure love of Christ. It is never used to denote alms or deeds of benevolence, although it may be a prompting motive."

So the simplest way to define charity is love.  Jesus taught, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”  Matthew 22:37-39.

We live in a self-centered world, so much is “I choose me”.  We live in a world that is becoming more and more polarized every day.  Many people believe it’s “us versus them” and if you’re a them, then I will cancel you.  We live in a world that is experiencing an epidemic of loneliness.  So we’re living in a I choose me, and I’m always right, and I’m so lonely society.  Do you think these things are related?  I sure do.

From what Jesus taught, we are to love ourselves- He told us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  If we don’t love ourselves we can’t love our neighbors.  I think we just need to shift our focus from me to we.  We could have heaven on earth, if everyone said, “I choose we.”  That means I choose me AND I choose you.  Let’s do this together!

Jesus also taught us to “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”  Matthew 5:44.

One last teaching from Jesus about love, “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.”  John 13:34.

How does Jesus love us? He loves us so much that He atoned for our sins, and died for us, then he was resurrected offering us the victory over death and the opportunity to be forgiven of our sins.  He asks us to love that much.  He asks us to love ourselves, our neighbors, and our enemies that much. 

I’ll admit that many times I don’t feel like I am capable of such love.  People can be prickly and hurt my feelings.  And I can be prickly and hurt other people’s feelings too.  Is it possible for us to have such love?  Yes!  Because the first great commandment is to love God.  To love God with all of our hearts, souls, and minds.  When we love God this way, He increases our capacity to see others as His children, as our brothers and sisters, and to love them with this perfect love.

In Mosiah 18:21, Alma the elder, “commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.”

When Dave Wright was our Bishop he said something like, “In all of our interactions with others, we should see them with Heavenly Father behind their left shoulder, and Jesus Christ behind their right, supporting them.”  I think it would be good if we also saw this when we look in the mirror.  What a good visual for us to remember that each of us is a beloved child of God, and that we should treat each other as such.

In Moroni 7:45-48, Mormon taught “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.  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons (and daughters) of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.”

My hope is that we can love God with all of our hearts and have charity, the pure love of Christ, for others and ourselves.  Then we won’t have to worry about being self-centered, we won’t be polarized in our associations with others, and we won’t be lonely.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.