charity

At an early age, children who attend meetings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints learn a concept we all should learn: each of us is God's son or daughter.  Four-year-olds sit in "primary" (Sunday school for children ages 4-11) and sing the words to a hymn entitled “I am a Child of God.”

I am a child of God,

And he has sent me here…

I am a child of God,

And so my needs are great…

I am a child of God.

Rich blessings are in store…

I am a child of God.

His promises are sure…

Children learn from a young age that each of us is God’s child.  And because each is God’s child, we are all brothers and sisters.  So we are all destined to return to the Father and live with Him together as a family.  Can you imagine that?  All of us together—and not just for a while, but for ETERNITY. For forever. 

Somewhere between my four-year-old self and my twenty-year-old self I forgot to consistently remember and consider this Truth I learned in primary.  So lately, as I've meditated on this teaching and as I've really made an effort to think about my life in terms of this concept, I feel things quickly change as I shape up.  The fogginess around my paradigm lifts a little as I learn to see people not as objects, but as people.  And when I see people as people, I see them as God's children.  And when I see God's children as God's children, I see them as my very own brothers and sisters.  

And then I want to listen.

I want to forgive.  

I want to accept.  

I want to celebrate the beautiful individuals who make up humanity.

I want to love. 

I believe that having charity, the pure love of Christ, is the beginning of coming to understand Christ and His mission.  


"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 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" (Moroni 7:47-48)