Charity

“Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other,
When we don’t judge or categorize someone else,
When we simply give
each other the benefit of the doubt
or remain quiet.
Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings;
Having patience with someone
who has let us down;
Or resisting the impulse to be offended when someone doesn’t handle something
 the way we might have hoped.
Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us.
Charity is expecting the best of each other.”
Elder Marvin J. Ashton
“The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword”
Ensign 1992:May-19

If Ye Love Me

“IF ye love me,
keep my commandments,”

So we have
Neighbors to bless,
Children to protect,
The poor to lift up,
And the truth to defend.
We have wrongs to make right,
Truths to share,
And good to do.
In short, we have the life of a devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. 
We can’t quit and we can’t go back.  After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. 
The Crucifixion, Atonement, and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it.”

Elder Jeffrey Holland, October 2012

The Esssentials, Linda Reeves

As a young mother, Linda Sheffield Reeves felt overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for four small children and the things she thought needed to be done — keeping the house clean, preparing meals on time, staying caught up on laundry. Her husband, too, felt burdened with balancing the demands of work, Church callings and home life. Together, they determined to fast, pray and go to the temple and ask the Lord what they needed to change.

Photo by Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Brother Melvyn K. Reeves and Sister Linda S. Reeves met in their ward in Pasadena, Calif., and have been married 38 years.

After weeks, even months, of petitioning the Lord, the answer became clear: They needed to make personal and family prayer, personal and family scripture study, consistent temple worship and weekly family home evening their first priority.
"I cannot quite say enough about the difference this made in our lives," she said. "Was our house always clean? Did the laundry and dishes get done in a timely manner? Sometimes, but the blessings of increased spiritual strength and testimony, love and kindness in our home and confidence before the Lord have been worth every effort."
The experience not only taught her to put the most important things first, but was yet another example of the faith she had developed in Heavenly Father.
"We knew the Lord would help," recalled Sister Reeves, who was sustained March 31 as second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency.