On Valentine's Day: Love or Charity can heal our own loss and the loss of others.

 On Valentine's Day: 

Love or Charity can heal own loss and the loss of others.

Valentine's Day can be a sad day for a lot of people who have lost a love or never had one, but we can make it a healing experience for ourselves and others.  Today I decided I wasn't going to focus on my loss, but instead I was going to spend it showing love for other people. I went out to lunch with a new widow and took her some flowers and I am cooking dinner with some single ladies from my church.

“No, love isn’t an emotion or even a noun.  It’s a verb.  Better defined as giving.  As putting someone else’s needs above your own.”  

Real love transcends romantic feelings.  

One thing that the past 16 months has taught me is that God cares about each and every person on this earth.  If we are willing to pray to feel a portion of how he feels about someone and we are willing to act and show caring towards them, God will bestow upon us that gift of His love.  The Scriptures call that love CHARITY, or the pure love of Christ. 

Caring can open a person's heart and create in them the ability to feel the love of The Lord. 

His love is a powerful tool. 

This love is DEEPER and STRONGER and a MORE POWER MOTIVATOR for selflessly doing good than anything else.

It can help you make the right choices and sacrifice things for someone else.  I think the love t
hat is given to us for our children is a perfect example of that.  We do things for them because we UNCONDITIONALLY love them; we feel a portion of God's love for them. We are willing to selflessly serve them because we feel that love, and the more we serve them the more we love them and the more they are allowed to know God's love for them. 

Families are the way God lets us feel His love and first teaches us about His love.

God's love is healing. 

By caring and showing for love towards other people, we can help them heal.

Moroni 7: 47-48 

47 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.  

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. 

Charity is far more than love, it is everlasting love, a perfect love.  It is a love so centered in righteousness that our soul is concerned only with the well being of others.

Charity is subordinating our interests in place of the interests of others.

Real charity is not something you give away, it something you make part of yourself.  It has the power to change your very character.

Charity is accepting someone's differences and shortcomings, it's having patience with them, forgiving, and seeing the best in each other.

Showing charity for others fills us with Joy! 

Joy transcends pleasure and even happiness.  Joy heals us!

“Since “God is love,” the closer we approach Him, the more profoundly we experience love.  But because a veil separates this mortality from our heavenly home, we must seek in the Spirit that which is imperceptible to mortal eyes.”

“We increase our love for our Heavenly Father and demonstrate that love by aligning our thoughts and actions with God’s word. His pure love directs and encourages us to become more pure and holy. It inspires us to walk in righteousness—not out of fear or obligation but out of an earnest desire to become even more like Him because we love Him.”
“How clearly the Savior spoke when He said that every other commandment hangs upon the principle of love.   If we do not neglect the great laws—if we truly learn to love our Heavenly Father and our fellowman with all our heart, soul, and mind—all else will fall into place.” -The Love of God, Ensign, Oct. 2009

Loving someone is a CHOICE...

“We know that any commandment by God involves agency. We can obey or disobey, but there is always a choice. Therefore, in Matthew 22:7 & 39, when the Lord says, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,”  He is not saying, “I hope you ‘fall in love’ with your neighbor.” The command is a directive, an appeal to the mind to make a conscious choice, involving the mind in reasoning and decision making. The Savior made it clear that love was a command to be obeyed—a command upon which “all the law and the prophets” hang (Matt. 22:40). To achieve a Christlike love we must overcome the natural man (see Mosiah 3:19), control natural impulses, and even love our enemies (see Matt. 5:44). This is a command that requires a decision.” From AGENCY AND LOVE IN MARRIAGE 

Loving someone is something we DO...

“Because love is as much a verb as it is a noun, the phrase “I love you” is much more a promise of behavior and commitment than it is an expression of feeling. “I love you” is a phrase we should be using in our homes much more than we do.  If we don’t teach our children to use this phrase, they’ll be very uncomfortable with it throughout their lives and may not use it very much in their own marriage or with their own children.”   From AGENCY AND LOVE IN MARRIAGE

I love this song by Clint Black about what real love is...

"Something That We Do"

I remember well the day we wed
I can see that picture in my head
I still believe the words we said
Forever will ring true

Love is certain, Love is kind
Love is yours and love is mine
But it isn't something that we find
It's something that we do

It's holding tight, It's lettin go
It's flying high and laying low
It lets your strongest feelings show
And your weakness too

It's a little and a lot to ask
An endless and a welcome task
Love isn't something that we have
It's something that we do

We help to make each other all that we can be
Though we can find our strength and inspiration independently
The way we work together is what sets our love apart
So closely that we can't tell where I end and where you start

It gives me heart remembering how
We started with a simple vow
There's so much to look back on now
And still it feels brand new
We're on a road that has no end
And each day we begin again
Love's not just something that we're in
It's something that we do

We help to make each other all that we can be
Though we can find our strength and inspiration independently
The way we work together is what sets our love apart
So closely that we can't tell where I end and where you start

Love is wide, Love is long
Love is deep and Love is strong
Love is why I love this song
And I hope you love it too

I remember well the day we wed
I can see that picture in my head
Love isn't just those words we said
It's something that we do

There's no request
Too big or small
We give ourselves
We give our all
Love isn't some place that we fall...
It's something that we do

If you have a 'Valentine' today and even if you do not, think of ways that you can develop that love into charity; charity will help you find healing in your relationship and in yourself.