All we really need is love

Matthew 5:44
 44 But I say unto you, 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;

We live in a world divided by color, address, economic status, religion, nation, language and politics. When was the last time we stopped to focus on our similarities? When was the last time did we think about the life of someone else, the stresses in their lives or the baggage they care keeping them from peace and hope. Now though I reference enemies, people cursing and persecution, really what I want to talk about is learning to love others who don't live up to our expectations for them.

Tonight isn't a rant about what we're not doing or a lecture telling you all what to do. I'm a twenty something that is still trying to figure out how to show love for someone that makes choices differently than I do. I don't understand how addictions affect choices, how people could make choices so adverse to what they ultimately want and how people's backgrounds can be so different that they simply see the world differently than I do. Yet I can't allow their choices or different perspective affect my love for them.We cannot allow our expectations for their actions to dictate how we feel about them. Viktor Frankl explained that men who pinned their existence on a quick liberation soon withered and died when their freedom did not come. He said:

"Those who know how close the connection is between the state of mind of a man-his courage and hope, or lack of them-and the state of immunity of his body will understand that the sudden loss of hope and courage can have a deadly effect. The ultimate cause of my friend's death was that the expected liberation did not come and he was severely disappointed."

We cannot let our disappointment in the actions and abilities of others affect how we feel and show love for others. This has taken me two long years to grasp. I cannot allow my desires of what I expect to happen allow me to become frustrated when my expectations are not met. Frankl stated:

"The salvation of man is through love and in love."

He survived the hard labor and concentration camp through focusing on the love he felt for his wife. Though life was not what he wanted it to be, he focused on the love in his heart and realized that was something worth living for.

"...in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone."

I would add that it is not the influences of life alone which dictates the person we become. We may hope for better things or feel we should be treated differently, but ultimately we should turn to Heavenly Father for peace and ask him to help us understand His love for His children. Sometimes people make decisions against truth and right, they remove themselves from the presence of the Spirit and for a time cannot feel God's love for them. Be that love. If they are ever to change or find hope in their lives they need love. They need to know that they have a support system and encouragement. It is amazing what the human spirit will do when love is part of the equation.

It may take weeks, months, years, decades or centuries to change and become new, but that is true for each one of us and love brings a peace and healing to the heart that comes in no other way. Also as we seek to share God's love we feel more of that love in our own life.

So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause. Padme

Many people feel that the job of the government is to provide for the needs of its people, health care, food, gas, education and jobs for all. This attitude cripples a nation for it destroys a need for ambition, working towards goals and finding strength and purpose through hardship. I know that there are many in this country who suffer and go through things that I will never understand, hardships that weaken their will to survive, help is necessary, but not more faceless money, placing a band-aid over an ever widening cut. A dole from the government may help in that moment, but ultimately takes away the opportunity for others to exercise charity and serve their fellow man.
                    




This means of course that we who are not facing heart ache must rise up in the face of need and serve as our Father in Heaven would have us serve.
 As Howard W. Hunter continues "If man will not recognize the inequalities around him and voluntarily, through the gospel plan, come to the aid of his brother, he will find that through “a democratic process” he will be forced to come to the aid of his brother. The government will take from the “haves” and give to the “have nots.” Both have lost their freedom...Under this climate, people gradually become blind to what has happened and to the vital freedoms which they have lost."

Heber J. Grant addressing this same issue said " The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership." I would say that as a society, work and effort must be re-enthroned. We live in a society where so much is given to us, they even talk of free community colleges, I believe an education is key to progress, but why are some given a free college education, while others have the potential to be taxed on their education savings account? Does that seem wrong to anybody else? We have allowed to be duped by flashy tag-lines and talking heads that purposely spin stories in scheming ways. We are losing our liberties with cheers throughout the land because people don't want to live up to the principles which are at the foundation of this nation, freedom, liberty, individualism and good old fashioned work. Lady Liberty weeps for us.

Ezra Taft Benson puts it this way: "Society may rationalize immorality, but God cannot condone it. Society sponsors Sabbath-breaking, but the Church counsels otherwise. Society profanes the name of Deity, but Latter-day Saints cannot countenance it. Because society condones a dole, which demoralizes man and weakens his God-given initiative and character, can we?"

David B. Haight said it this way: " when the Lord established his way of caring for those in need, the “world,” or government, introduced its form of dole assistance—a counterfeit alternative to the Lord’s way. In most instances, the world’s way dismissed the principle of individual work and family responsibility and adopted the philosophy that “the government will take care of our needs” or “the government owes us a living.” Individual and family initiative was supplanted by government handouts. The true spirit of love for our neighbor and concern for others as taught by the Savior had been generally ignored."

How can we prepare a brighter future? First we must inform our senators that this new tax law is not what the nation wants nor will it provide for a bright future. Until we as a people, the near silent majority share what to say, we only have ourselves to blame for the loss of money through taxes and loss of right to serve our fellow men.

Next we follow Marion G. Romney's advice: "

We fear many parents in the Church are making “gullible gulls” out of their children with their permissiveness and their doling out of family resources. Parents who place their children on the dole are just as guilty as a government which places its citizens on the dole. In fact, the actions of parents in this area can be more devastating than any government program.

Bishops and other priesthood leaders can be guilty of making “gullible gulls” out of their ward members. Some members become financially or emotionally dependent on their bishops. A dole is a dole whatever its source. All of our Church and family actions should be directed toward making our children and members self-reliant."

We train our children today how to work for their daily bread and goals, to help them understand that actions come with consequences and right choices bring greater peace and joy. I understand what it is to struggle with money, I wasn't able to pay for last semester on my own, living at home in preparation for my soon to come nuptials, I am considered their dependent, yet I pay for school on my own. It never ceases to amaze me that though I earn less than $8,000 a year, I can't get help to pay my way through two $3,20, not counting books. But this experience has taught me how to budget and learn how to track expenses so I can pay my parents back as soon as I am able. Their teaching has taught me the value of money and effort. Take our power back, teach your children to give appropriate value to hard work, money and an education.

No longer allow our liberty to die with cheering in the streets and thunderous applause in our hallowed halls.

Another Piece to the Crisis: Not Being True to Yourself

This nation is made up of good people and we need to stand up and share our goodness. Be true to the truth inside you. I've been afraid to share the good news I have inside me for fear that people would discount me as a religious fanatic or "one of those people" but that kind of fear is the cause of our nation tearing itself apart. Until we share the good inside of us, the good that can change lives and hearts, we are doomed to watch our nation fail and ourselves fall along with it. Where did this idea of the need to hide our religion come from? I know that at the heart of our nation we believe in  separation of church and state, but that is so the government cannot penalize you for believing a certain way nor can it make a state sanctioned religion, but that doesn't mean that we close our mouths and do nothing as men are slaughtered in the streets and babies are killed in clean clinics. I honestly don't know how I can stop a blind, loud minority from making those decisions, but I know that I can say, Heavenly Father values EVERY life, he loves his children and he wants them to experience this life. We are all people of a book, we all value life and the right to live that life. Stop making differences mean more than similarities. The next time someone has something negative to say, ponder on something positive you can say to counter, because for all the negative out of control chaotic things happening, that no seems to see as warning signs, there are great things, people are reaching out to help their neighbour and to share the love of God with someone.
   A few weeks ago I shared how this nation is promised land and we must guard and protect it as a land for God's word, how do I know this? Because the scriptures, specifically the Book of Mormon and the Spirit speaking to me tells me how important this land is. Elder Ezra Taft Benson said that this land was set apart to be the cradle of liberty. Where has that liberty gone? We have allowed division and hatreds to set brother against brother. We must forget our differences and look instead to the love God has for all of His children and for each of us! Whether we are Muslim, Baptist, Jew, Methodist, LDS, Catholic or Hindu, we each leave our worship with the same goal, leave here and treat everyone a little better. We must remember the Spirit of our religion, remember God is love and lashing out at others in righteous indignation hurts, hurts those we lash out at and at ourselves. If God is love, and He is, we must bear that same message of love that has changed our hearts and brought us salvation. As Jesus Christ said those who love only those who are kind to them have their own reward, we must love all that walk on this earth, for we are in this life together for a reason.
  God has a specific, individual plan for each of us. We have the opportunity and ability to help others in this hard life called mortality. Before reaching for hate or fear reach for love, then do we have the ability to change the world. When you face hardship don't be angry wondering why this had to happen to you, instead ask how you might use this life experience to help and lift others.
   I know that God lives and loves us, that He wants so badly for His children to feel love, I hope this week we will leave this Sabbath day more dedicated to treating others a little kinder and committed to seeing the good. I know I too easily become overwhelmed by the news reports of protesters and people attacked in the street, let that kind of anger stop with us. Be a strong disciple of Christ and remember his message was always LOVE!
Sometimes good things really happen.

Super Families to the Rescue

“The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.” ~ Confucius

I'm not here today to talk about two parent families, or heterosexual couple families or the many other options for family, though two parent, different gender parents are very important. Today I want to talk about making the family relationships we have strong.

"Sustainable societies depend upon strong families. Nations that seek to remain economically and politically vital must reproduce themselves; children are most likely to thrive—socially, emotionally, and economically—when they enjoy the shelter and stability of an intact, married family; marriage is most beneficial for children when both parents are positively invested in their lives; and families are most likely to flourish when they can be built upon strong economic foundations. These are the truths that inform the work of the Institute for Family Studies..." 
(a new initiative dedicated to strengthening marriage and family life, and advancing the welfare of children through research and public education.) (here is the link if you want to read more of their research http://ifstudies.org/strong-families-sustainable-societies/

What the quote from the Institute for Family Studies is saying comes down to societies must have strong families at the center of the nation or societies cannot survive. We need children raised in homes where they know they are loved; meaning they are disciplined, given time with their parents and siblings and supported in positive endeavors.

Sis. Julie B. Beck of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stated that teenagers growing to be young adults are losing confidence in themselves to be able to form a marriage bond with someone. They are unable to form bonds now, so they fear they won't be able to form bonds that really matter later. Why can't they form relationships with peers? Because our youth and many of us adults have lost the ability to communicate. We are so focused on our tablets, instant messaging, facebook, twitter and texting that our society is losing the ability to communicate on a face to face level. How do we fix this?

We fix it in the home. Until we turn the tv off and limit tablet time our children will continue losing their ability to form lasting bonds with others. I just returned home from visiting my sister on the other end of the state, that visit made this weekend very special, sometimes texting isn't enough, we need face to face contact. How many of your kids like their siblings? How many of your kids like you? Now I realize that some teenagers go through the "hating parents stage", but it doesn't have to be that way. My parents established rules for us and let us know there were always consequences for our decisions, and they were the people in my corner during high school. They were the ones I shared my troubles with and my mom was the one who heard all my boy troubles. Next to my parents my siblings were my best friends. I am so grateful for the many times my older sister took me out for ice cream or just came into my room to talk, those are the times of my growing up years I cherish. Don't let these opportunities of building relationships pass you by. What you tweet as a child is calling for you isn't near as important as the hug they give you after you help them or the relationship of trust you build as they know you are in their corner. 

I don't mean to sound preachy, I don't have kids and I don't have a smart phone, but I know I can tell my family just about anything and I know they'll support me, especially in the tough times. Our nation needs families who stand up for truth and good morals and who know how to instill this in their children. These attempts won't always be perfect, but the effort is never wasted, each time you are teaching your children how important you think family is. I am so grateful for the family and God-fearing town that raised me. At the top of the post I placed a super man emblem-ed flag. I would encourage each of you to become a "super family member", make your family important to you. Right a note telling them of a special memory or play a get together as an extended family.

 I know I will cherish for weeks the arms of my niece and nephews around my neck, that is love and love has the ability to change the world, one human heart at a time.