After declining an invitation to date, someone once wrote this for me, “love may be the most difficult for you to comprehend or understand”. I then thought love shouldn’t be that hard. It should be as easy as breathing air. But as I matured, I learned how love can be a challenging principle indeed. If it is so easy, it wouldn’t be a commandment.
In my attempt to meet people, I realized that earth life has its trials and tribulations that can lead others to find love difficult. In the scriptures, we learn that in our days, people will harden their hearts and they will be contentious towards one another. Death, separation, disappointment, and heartaches will tend to make people believe that being past feeling and cold can define strength. Yet, the scripture teaches us that real strength is in the capacity to love like the Savior.
But how do we love like the
Savior? I may never with my limited wisdom comprehend the extent of His
capacity to love, but here are some examples of his love where we may learn
more about him. My hope is that in learning we can exemplify the Savior and
thus help us learn to love like Him.
His love
sees beyond our faults. In John chapter 8 we learn of an adulterous woman
whom the Lord forgave. When people only saw her mistakes, the Lord acted as if
He heard nothing. He ignored what the crowd was saying. He even verbalized his
compassion by saying that He does not condemn her. He told her instead to sin
no more.
He loves us
first. In 1 John Chapter 4, we learn that he loves us first. His love does
not have any fear of us not loving him back. He simply decided to love us and
atone for our sins regardless of whether we followed him or not. He gave us a love that
is unconditional and without guile. Pure and free of fear from us choosing to
go the other way.
His love is
kind and full of understanding – In Luke Chapter 7, the Lord acknowledges a
woman who showed devotion towards her. She said that with her faith, her sins
which are many, are forgiven. He also said that for them whom little is
forgiven, the same loveth little. He understands our sins is kind enough to let
us repent and draw close unto him. He knows that if he accepts us and forgives
us for our mistakes, we will love him more as we repent.
His love is
full of hope – Most of the stories in the scriptures end with the Lord asking
to “go and sin no more” or “go thy way”. He asks everyone to continue and “go”.
He is showing trust. He is trusting of our capacity to be faithful and serve
him throughout our mortal journey. Such trust despite our imperfection shows
how much He loves us and believes in our capacity to follow and become like
him.
Loving like the Savior can not only help us love others but love ourselves as
well. His love is transformative that once we feel it, we are inspired to love
others too.
In my search for a companion, the
love that the Savior has for me has been my guide. Knowing that a person can
love me like the Savior loves me gives me a feeling of security that hope and
happiness can be found in our married life.
If you struggle to love –
remember the Savior and His examples. Then, it wouldn’t be so difficult once
you feel his atoning love for you. His grace is enough to restore our hearts
and heal our heartaches. We can love better than we had ever done before. If we
draw closer to the Lord, we will know how much He loves us - then loving others
wouldn’t be so difficult.
