I was assigned this talk as the 4th Sunday lesson in High Priest's Group for January. It is a great talk with a number of very good quotes.
For all, the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is that we can and must expect to become better as long as we live.
If we think of "getting better" as, improving on a long checklist of commandments, then that counsel can get pretty discouraging. Fortunately, the message of this talk, and one of the themes of this conference is "Love." It can all be summed up in that quality. So, "we can and must expect to become better" at love, "as long as we live."
If we work on following Christ's example of love, we will accomplish many of the things President Erying mentioned early in the talk (from Moroni 7:48)
"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 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."
Any believing Latter-day Saint is an optimist about what lies ahead for him or her, however difficult the present may be. We believe that through living the gospel of Jesus Christ we can become like the Savior, who is perfect.
President Eyring talked about attending a Primary class where the children sang "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" and how they sang like they really believed it, and that they expected to be able to do it. For the lesson I played the song as sung by some children from tthe Sunset Hills Ward Primary for the Cedar Mill Stake Primary Program in 2007.
One of the key statements from the whole talk was this:
It is love of God that will lead us to keep His commandments. And love of others is at the heart of our capacity to obey.
President Eyring then talked about how we can practice love:
He has offered us the family as an example of an ideal setting in which we can learn how to love as He loves. [the family is a sort of laboratory for practicing love, because] The greatest joys and the greatest sorrows we experience are in family relationships. The joys come from putting the welfare of others above our own. That is what love is. And the sorrow comes primarily from selfishness, which is the absence of love.
The ideal God holds for us is to form families in the way most likely to lead to happiness and away from sorrow. That is very profound. That is one reason we have families and the main thing we are to do with them.
He then gave counsel to three groups: husbands and wives; parents of a wandering child; and children.
He concludes with this advice and counsel:
I hope you will go out today looking for opportunities to do as He did and to love as He loves. I can promise you the peace that you felt as a child will come to you often and it will linger with you.
None of us is perfect yet. But we can have frequent assurance that we are following along the way. He leads us, and He beckons for us to follow Him.
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I enjoyed this talk. President Eyring mostly talked about us needing to follow Christ, and try to perfect ourselves.I also like the story about the gravestone reading, "Please, no empty chairs."
ReplyDeleteOne way we, as children, can perfect ourselves is by honoring our parents. It's cool how he pointed out that there was a promise involved with keeping that commandment. I had never noticed that before.
"we can and must expect to become better as long as we live". He talked about ways to follow Christ in our family relationships between husband and wife, parents and children. Love, prayer, obedience were some of the things he discussed within the family to strengthen each other and our relationships.
ReplyDelete"Our way of life must be filled with the love of God & love for others."
ReplyDelete"(Jesus) has offered us the family as an exaple of an ideal setting in which we can learn how to love as He loves. This is because the greatest joys & the greatest sorrows we experience are in family relationships."
Showing love: "The joys come from putting the welfare of others above our own. Sorrow comes from selfishness (the absence of love)."
Everything has an opposite. We all should be working on not being the source of the sorrow. "Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes your companion's joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load & soften the sorrows of your companions." I felt like I was doing this while I was doing the 14 days of valentines for Rob. "It will help to remember how you have felt, at times, like a little child, even in the midst of cares & trials." Write down the good times, feelings, spiritual promptings & read them during trials to help remember.