Loving in the Savior's Way

I really should keep this short tonight; one, because there's a headache doing it's best to invade my space and two, because I am trying to follow up on my obedience leaf, last night my dear husband reminded me it was time for bed before midnight (and I actually went to bed) and I'd like to follow that up with another good night.

I think the thing the Lord has been trying to teach me this last week mercy goes a long way, that people matter. Sometimes I think my gospel living should look a specific way, I tend to hold myself to a higher standard than I think the Lord does. Not in a Pharisee sort of way (I hope), but I think that mind set can creep in really quickly. The Pharisees were a group that were known for their exactness in obeying the Law, not only the Mosaic law, but also the rabinic laws that had grown to hedge up the laws through the decades since the prophets. Interestingly these days we don't recognize the Pharisees so much for their exacting obedience as much as for their hypocrisy. Because they put the law above all else they missed the purpose of the law, which was to bring the children of Israel closer to their Savior, so that when their Messiah came to them they missed it. Many of them recognized that He bore more than mortal power, but because they valued their law and the power they had accrued through oppressing the people they probably very literally made a deal with the devil to kill the Savior of mankind.

Now I'm not saying that being obedient to the commandments will one day lead us to such a horrendous act, but I do think that in the name of obedience we forget people, we forget that Christ was called a Sabbath breaker because he chose compassion over what looked right to the people around Him. Now my point is not for us to be disobedient to the rules and commandments, the Lord gave them to us for a reason, I'm encouraging us to be obedient to the commandments so that we can keep the first two greatest commandments, to love the Lord our God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This then invites the Spirit so we can live these two commandments even better and bless the lives of others. As the Savior did we need to put aside "what others might think" and instead focus on following the Spirit to bless the lives of others. I struggle to put aside what I view as being obedient and what I think looks right, but I find that when I do I am often on the Lord's errand, helping others one on one and doing what will ultimately help me learn and grow and find peace, which often I overlook. Heavenly Father wants what is best for all of us, His plans are for all of us to find peace and purpose, not to become overly wrung out and burnt out. With Christ we can serve others, discover purpose and become more than we are. Without Him usually I just feel tired and overwhelmed.

I am thankful for a Savior who is infinitely patient in drawing me nearer to Him to do work His way, in His time.