Charity Never Faileth- Farewell Talk

            In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we read, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; … seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, … Charity never faileth.”

            We further learn in Moroni chapter 7, “Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth ^cforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.”

            Charity is also described as, “a state of being, a state of the heart, and kind feelings that engender loving actions.” (Silvia H. Allred)

            Or more simply put… “Charity… is really love plus sacrifice.” (Hartman Rector, Jr.)

            Today I am going to speak about how charity can be learned, exercised, and extended to others.

            An important factor about charity is that we don’t need to be discouraged if we are not as charitable as we would like to be. The great news is that charity can be learned and further developed if we show true effort on our part.  So, the question is, how can charity be learned?

            After my study of the scriptures and words of modern prophets, here are four steps that will help us learn to be more charitable in our daily lives.
            First, we must have a desire to increase our charity and be more Christlike. Elder Dallin H. Oaks speaks on desire, “Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming.” Besides realizing that we want to have an increased desire, we can gain a greater desire to be charitable by asking in our prayers.
            The second step to increase our charity is by praying sincerely to our Father in Heaven.  Sister Silvia H. Allred states, “Mormon exhorts us to ‘pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that [we] may be filled with the Spirit.’ This godly love is charity, and as we are filled with this love, so ‘we shall be like him.’” I want to add my personal witness that so much comfort can be found in turning to our Heavenly Father in prayer. The peace I have felt, and the comfort I have experience through prayer can be replicated by little else. There have been so many experiences in my life where I have learned to rely on my Heavenly Father through the means of prayer. I know that on my mission there will be countless times that I will rely heavily on prayer for encouragement, strength, and personal revelation.
            For the third step to becoming more charitable, we must incorporate reading the scriptures daily. After many hours of reading the scriptures this summer, I want to share that I know the scriptures are true. I know that the doctrine in these books can and will increase your charity. I have had the opportunity this summer particularly, to find out for myself that the scriptures will also increase your knowledge. I have learned and will continue to learn so much from the scriptures. I love how the scriptures help me become more acquainted with the Savior and his teachings. I’m so grateful for the pattern I have created for my scripture study and invite everyone to increase or maintain their daily personal scripture reading. I know that if you do this, it will bless your lives, like it has blessed mine.
            The fourth step to increase your charity is to “minster to all those around you and give special attention to those in need,” which leads into my next point, which is exercising charity.

             I acknowledge that there are so many ways to exercise charity in our lives, but I have picked a few to share with you today.

            I will start with one of the more seemingly obvious ones. We can exercise charity by helping others and being kind and generous. Sister Silivia Allred says, “When we have charity, we are willing to serve and help others when it is inconvenient and with no thought of recognition or reciprocation. We don’t wait to be assigned to help, because it becomes our very nature. As we choose to be kind, caring, generous, patient, accepting, forgiving, and selfless, we discover, we are abounding in charity.” A great example of this that I have witnessed in my life is a mother of one of my dearest friends. Her generosity and thoughtfulness in all aspects of her life has never ceased to impress me. The example of her constant giving of her time, gifts, and love, whether it be to her own family and friends, to ward members, or a mere stranger has always resonated with me. I strive to be more giving in all aspects of my life, just as I have seen her and many others do.

            Another important way to exercise charity is to refrain from judging and criticizing others. President Thomas S. Monson said, “I consider charity- or the “pure love of Christ- to be the opposite of criticism and judging… [It is] the charity that manifests itself when we are tolerant of others and lenient toward their actions…” He also states, “Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun, who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: ‘If you judge people, you have no time to love them.’” We know it is a commandment of God to love one another, so in order to follow this commandment, we must avoid judging others. President Monson shares the following story:

“A young couple, Lisa and John, moved into a new neighborhood. One morning while they were eating breakfast, Lisa looked out the window and watched her next-door neighbor hanging out her wash. ‘That laundry’s not clean!’ Lisa exclaimed. ‘Our neighbor doesn’t know how to get clothes clean!’ John looked on but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, Lisa would make the same comments.

A few weeks later Lisa was surprised to glance out her window and see a nice, clean wash hanging in her neighbor’s yard. She said to her husband, ‘Look, John—she’s finally learned how to wash correctly! I wonder how she did it.’

John replied, ‘Well, dear, I have the answer for you. You’ll be interested to know that I got up early this morning and washed our windows!’”

We need to ask ourselves, “Are we making judgments when we don’t have all the facts? What do we see when we look at others? What judgments do we make about them?”

            President Monson adds that charity “is resisting the impulse to become offended easily.” When I was in Young Women’s, I had a leader who embodied this particular trait better than I have ever seen anyone else display it. I have always looked up to her because she made it a choice to not be offended in all aspects of her life. By refraining from this practice that is almost natural at times, she experienced more joy and showed me such a great example. Through her example and my desire to change, I know that I have improved on this attribute and have become happier in that regard.

            An essential way to exercise charity in our own lives is to forgive others. President Hinckley says, “Now I should like to speak a word concerning charity of a different kind. I speak of charity in the sense of forgiveness, of tolerance of the failings of another, of the smothering of the feelings of jealous and unkindness towards associates.” I love this explanation of charity because I had never thought of it in that way before. After pondering about it for a while, I know that I need to let go of any harbored ill feelings that I may have had in the past, so that I can experience the pure love of Christ while on my mission. As many preparing and past missionaries can attest, life gets quite challenging in an interesting way before you leave for your mission. This summer preparing has been a great one, a busy one, and a one with trials. I have had the opportunity to utilize the atonement and have brought myself closer to my Savior. So in addition to me encouraging everyone to forgive others, I would like to share a quote from President Hinckley that really moved me; “If there be any within the sound of my voice who have harbored grudges, who have let hatred develop in their hearts one with another, I ask you to make the effort to turn around. Hatred always fails and bitterness always destroys, but ‘charity never faileth.’” An even greater reason to forgive others is to be like our Savior, Jesus Christ. “It was the suffering Redeemer who said, as he hung on Calvary’s cross and looked down upon those who had so brutally crucified him, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’”

            My final topic on charity is how it can be extended to others. I believe that the best way to spread and extend charity is to teach others of Christ. In 2 Nephi 25:26, we read, “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ… that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”

            A thought that comes to mind is from the movie entitled, “Pay it Forward.” This is a movie that so happened to be filmed at my “Alma Mater,” Centennial High School. It is about a young boy who has a hope to change the world by doing kind things to three people, and each person doing a kind thing to three more people, and so on. To me, this relates to missionary work so well. I hope to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and the plan of happiness to many people, who will in turn, spread the gospel to more people.

            I believe that I can successfully share the gospel if I am obedient and do the following two things.

            The first thing that I need to do is act of love, and not duty. Aileen H. Clyde shares, “Charity develops in us as we see ourselves moving in our lives from a “what’s in it for me” kind of love, to the love of family and friends and… beyond that to an awareness of our Lord’s unconditional love for us.”

            In high school, I had a seminary teacher who everyone could tell that he loved teaching us and he loved his calling. He would come up with really fun games, share his testimony in a way we could understand, and encourage us to be our best. I remember every Friday would be “Missionary Friday.” We would watch as he and my fellow classmates would simulate missionary teaching efforts. Back then, I had no idea that I would be standing here today leaving on a mission at 19 years old. But, through his love for us and the gospel, he showed me such a great example of how to act out of love, and not duty. He could have had a negative attitude about waking up so early, as I often did, but instead he loved us so much and he even brought us juice and donuts on occasion. I learned so much from his example and I hope I can replicate that effort while I serve the people of North Carolina.

            The second thing I need to do is realize how far reaching my efforts will be, even if I can’t always see the end result. This is a more difficult one to master, but I know that with the Lord’s help, I can use this to avoid becoming discouraged on my mission.

            I know that I need not fear like the scripture found in Doctrine and Covenants 68:6, the scripture I chose for my mission plaque, says, “Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.” One way I can  be effective in being of good cheer is to remember that I can’t always see how far reaching my efforts have been. I would like to share a thought about this Elaine L. Jack.

            “As I speak to you I can’t help but think of my mother, who died 26 years ago. Like many of you, I learned so much from my mother. She taught me the importance of grammar, manners, cleanliness, and education. She was a gracious woman. She taught me the principles of the gospel and doctrines of the kingdom of God. She was an example of great faith, hope in abundance, and pure charity.

I doubt my mother would ever have imagined that someday her daughter from the little community of Cardston would be speaking by satellite broadcast to women around the world and that I would be sharing those things that I learned at home. So many years have passed since the two of us were together, but I often feel my mother is right with me. This prompts me to ask… how can we ever gauge the effects of our touch, our reach, or our influence?”

            I also think of a story one of my BYU professor shared with my class about his time serving as a mission president in Madrid, Spain. He shared that a sister missionary had been sick for a few days and was staying in the mission home while she was recovering. Her first day out serving after being sick made her a little worrisome. This particular sister often liked to approach people who were wearing yellow because she thought they had a positive and accepting glow about them. On this particular day, the mission president, my teacher, encouraged her to talk to someone wearing green to start off her day.

            So, on the public bus, these two sisters set off to talk to and teach people. The sister who had been sick saw a woman wearing both yellow and green and decided she would be the perfect person to talk to. She met the woman kindly, shared a candy with her, and bore her testimony to her. To the sister missionary, the end of that story came as the woman got off the bus and the sisters continued to teach others.

            Months later, a letter was received in the mission home from that woman that they had so briefly taught on the bus. The letter shared that after her arrival back to the United States after her trip, she met up with the missionaries, and decided to be baptized. In the letter, the woman asked the mission president if this good news could be forwarded to the “girl with a smile on her face who shared candy with her.” The mission president knew what sister missionaries had approached her because of the timing of her trip and the sharing of candy habit.

            My BYU professor told this story to my class to encourage us and motivate us to remember that we never know how far reaching our efforts can be. I hope to keep this conviction with me while I’m on my mission to avoid discouragement and to stay positive throughout the trials.

            Like when Nephi answers the question, “Knowest thou the condescension of God?” with the reply, “I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things,” I would like to add my simple testimony.