The Plan of Love
I’ve been looking
forward to this opportunity. Finally, I’ve gotten my chance to come up here and
speak to all of you. I feel so blessed
that I am able to have my whole family here. And I definitely will not forget
the many friends that have also come this day to hear me speak. It means a lot to me to know that I have your
love and support with me today, and with my choice of serving a mission.
Now usually people
start off with a joke, but seeing as I’m not one that can think of a funny joke
right off the back, or even get the punch line correct. I won’t even try to
attempt that route. But instead, I want
to ask you a simple question….
Who
do you love?
Mom
Dad
Siblings
Aunts, Uncles
Grandparents
Friends
Now….
Who loves you?
I’m sure that all of us are able to
name the same people on that list.
Parents, grandparents, and so on…
Keep those two small questions in
mind. You’ll need to remember them for later. :)
Elder Tingey, spoke in General
Conference, April of 2006. This talk
called The Great Plan of Happiness. Is the talk that I was asked to
base my talk off of.
As I read through this talk there
was one word that stood out before me.
One word that kept coming to my mind.
One word that I have been hearing over and over again from people I have
been around.
And if you couldn’t already guess
what the one word is…
Love.
I want to focus on the word love
itself. Because of how much I have had this word come up in my life.
On a Sister Missionary page on Facebook
and I posted a simple question.
“How would you describe love?”
A few girls replied with these
answers, and I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Love is the greatest emotion that
we can feel. And when love is most
perfect, love becomes a selfless act.
Love is an action word. It doesn't
just happen, it takes work and effort. If you're willing to put in the time,
though at times, it doesn't really feel like work at all.
It's caring about someone or something
so much that you would sacrifice anything to meet their needs. It is selfless
service and unconditional charity.
The word charity was used in almost
all the comments, this sparked my interest in how love and charity are tied
together so well.
To find out the full meaning of charity I
turned to the scriptures and in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7
and 13 it reads…
4 Charity suffereth long, and is
kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not
her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in
the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things,
hopeth all things, endureth all things.
13 And now bideth faith, hope, charity,
these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
Continuing to go off of the word Charity,
I turned to Moroni 7:46-47
46 Wherefore, my beloved
brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth.
Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all
things must fail—
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.
Charity is the pure love of Christ.
Love and Charity walk hand in hand. But
why is love so important? Why is it
mentioned so much?
In St Matthew 22:37-39 it reads…..
37 Jesus
said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
We are commanded to Love Him, to
love our Father in Heaven.
In order to love the Lord, we must
know of the Lord. We must take the time
out of our lives to study, ponder, pray.
The Lord wants to talk to you and
he wants to hear from you. He loves you
in a way that no one else can love you, because he knows you better than you
know yourself. The Lord knows your
mistakes and your choices. He knows what
you will do along with what you have already done. He knows your weaknesses, your strengths, and
your insecurities.
But most importantly the Lord knows
who you are and what you can become.
John Bytheway said. “If you want to talk to God, great! If you want God to talk to you, read the scriptures.”
Our Heavenly Father has reached out
to His children in Love to reveal His Plan of Happiness.
This Plan explains what our Loving
Father in Heaven does to help us make it through this journey successfully, so
that we may return to His presence and become like Him.
God is our Father
He loves us
We are a part of His Family
We are His children.
He loves you no matter what.
My favorite scripture in the Book
or Mormon is found in 2 Nephi 1:15. This scripture has a promise that we can be
eternally held in the arms of his love.
It reads…
15 Behold, the Lord hath redeemed
my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally
in the arms of his love.
The love from our Heavenly Father
and the love from our Brother Jesus Christ, is a perfect and pure love. This love is found everywhere throughout the
scriptures, throughout our day to day lives.
Elder Richard G. Scott said “Pure
love is an incomparable, potent power for good.”
This incomparable and potent power
for good is shown through the example of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
Our Savior came to earth to be
tempted, mocked, tried, judged, and crucified, even though He had the power and
authority to prevent such actions from occurring.
President John Taylor described the
condescension of Christ in these beautiful words: “It was further necessary
that He should descend below all things, in order that He might raise others
above all things; for if He could not raise Himself and be exalted through
those principles brought about by the atonement, He could not raise others; He
could not do for others what He could not do for Himself.”
In addition to President Taylor’s
words, Elder Tingey said “Christ’s suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane
epitomizes the most magnificent of all the attributes of Christ, His perfect
love. Here we see that He truly loved
all of us.”
Christ’s words in D&C 19:18 reads…
“Which suffering caused myself,
even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at
every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit”
This act of love from the Savior
was done so that we wouldn’t have to feel that pain. He chose to go through it all. He felt what you have felt, he knows what
you’re feeling and going through in life. And he will do anything to help lift
you up.
Christ gave up his life for you. A one and only gift given to you from Christ
himself.
The way that you may be able to
show the love you have for the Lord is to live his word. If you live the Gospel of Christ you will
prove to the Lord that you love him.
Through
FAITH in Jesus Christ, shows that you
know that the pure love of Christ is able to do all things.
Through
REPENTANCE you love him enough to
submit to His will. You show that you are willing to change as he asks, for he
is perfect. And he will never mislead
you.
Through
BAPTISM is shows that you trust him, shows your
loyalty to him. Giving him your trust proves
to him you truly love him.
Through
ENDURING TO THE END. Love is patient. Love endureth all things, suffereth all
things, and hopeth all things.
As we show the Lord that we love
him and are willing to follow in him and his plan, he blesses us.
The Lord knows……
As humans,
We are all
imperfect.
But while
being imperfect,
We are all
perfectly beautiful.
There is a
strength within every one of us,
There is a
will to be the best that we can be.
There is
beauty within each and everyone's soul.
I know
within all my heart that the Lord loves every one of us.
The Lord
wants us to return home, to live with him again.
He will do
everything in his power, to help everyone return.
But God will
never force anyone to Heaven.
The Love of
God is Perfect!
The Love of
God can be felt anywhere,
By anyone
who needs and wants it.
He knows we
are imperfect,
He knows we
need help,
But He needs
you to ask first.
Don't be
afraid to ask.
He wants you
to.
He loves
you.
Always
remember,
That
although we are all imperfect,
We are
Perfectly Beautiful,
And we will
always be loved.
By our
Father in Heaven and His son, Our Brother, Jesus Christ.
President Boyd K. Packer: “If you
understand the great plan of happiness and follow it, what goes on in the world
will not determine your happiness.”
For this moment in time, I would
like to add another name to the name of The Plan of Salvation or the The Great
Plan of Happiness.
This name I would like to add is….
The Plan of Love.
(Now keep in mind, this isn’t a legit
change. This is in my head. In my heart,
another way that this marvelous plan can be called.)
1. Reverently and meekly
now,
Let thy head most humbly
bow.
Think of me, thou ransomed
one;
Think what I for thee have
done.
With my blood that dripped
like rain,
Sweat in agony of pain,
With my body on the tree
I have ransomed even thee.
2….Oh, remember what was
done
That the sinner might be
won.
On the cross of Calvary
I have suffered death for
thee.
3. Bid thine heart all
strife to cease;
With thy brethren be at
peace.
Oh, forgive as thou wouldst
be
Even forgiven now by me.
In the solemn faith of
prayer
Cast upon me all thy care,
And my Spirit's grace shall
be
Like a fountain unto thee.
4. At the throne I
intercede;
For thee ever do I plead.
I have loved thee as thy
friend,
With a love that cannot end.
Be obedient, I implore,
Prayerful, watchful
evermore,
And be constant unto me,
That thy Savior I may be.
As I leave this message with you
today I hope that you have felt the love I have for you and Our Savior. And the love the Savior has for you.
I hope and pray that this feeling
of love stays with you as you continue on with your lives.
I know Our Father in Heaven and
His Son Jesus Christ love each and every one of us personally. I know they are looking down and watching
over us.
I know this church is true and I
love it with all my heart.
I hope that I may be able to fill
the lives of everyone, I come in contact with, with the pure love of Christ
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen
Beautiful, Chelsea! I wish I could have been there to hear you. You're going to do great! Take care of yourself and remember that YOU ARE LOVED!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much xD
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