Love

Today at church I was filled with a whole lot of...feelingness. I tried writing it down in words at sacrament meeting, but what I was feeling went a whole lot deeper than just mere words. Words can be powerful. Words can influence others. Words can invite the spirit or drive it away.  But words are insufficient for deep, deep feelings. And what I was feeling today was love.

Love is an incredible thing. Now, I'm not talking being in love. Though I'm sure that is amazing. I'm just talking about love in general. Love is...love is everything. Everything is love - or, everything that is important and that has power. God is love. Jesus Christ is love. The Gospel is love. The Priesthood is love. I think that happiness comes from love -whether it's love for those around you or love for whatever it is you're doing. Love is SO important. And, earlier this week, I came to the conclusion that I need to do a whole lot more loving. I need to be more loving - be kinder, do more service for those around me, express the love that I have for others. Everything that I do in life should be motivated by love - whether it's love for my God, love for those around me, or even love for myself. But, my life should be about love. And, it's funny. Since I've had that inspiration and made that decision, life has just thrown me a bunch of little things that made me frustrated and annoyed with people. It was like immediate opposition in my resolve to love more - which, in reality, reinforces to me that this is exactly what I need to be doing. Not that it makes it any easier.

So, today in church, in remembering all this about love and its importance, all the feelingness that I was experiencing was simply...love. Intense love. A love that I simply cannot put into words. I sing in the ward choir, and today we sang "How Great Thou Art." I cried like a little baby - which, as a side note, embarrassed me to no end. I hate crying when no one else is. But, I couldn't not cry, because of the overwhelming feeling of love that I had. It was as the song said, "Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art! How great Thou art!" My soul truly was singing, my entire being was exclaiming those words! How great Thou art! Think about it. Think about what Christ has done for you.

"And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in.
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim: My God, how great Thou art!"

Gladly bearing. Jesus bore our burdens gladly because of His love for us. If you do not have a testimony of Christ, if you don't believe in Him and can't understand why I feel the way I feel, why I share whenever I can my testimony and love for Christ and this Gospel,  then at least just do this: Picture a man, the kindest, gentlest, most giving man you know. This man loves you. A lot. Much like your brother or father or someone like that. This man wipes away every tear you shed. This man, when you are struggling will come to you and help you in any way possible. He comforts you when you are in the deepest despair. When you feel you can't go on anymore, he lifts you up from the ground, carries you, wraps his arms around you. He puts a smile on your face when you feel like nothing could ever do so. He is always, always there for you, like your best friend, but MORE. THAT is Jesus Christ. Except infinitely more. He suffered every little thing that we have gone through and will go through. He took our burdens upon Himself. He cried our tears. He felt our pains. He felt our stress, our sadness, our frustrations, our despair. And, I love Him for it. I love Him more than I could ever express.

But, that's the thing. I need to express that love. How does one do that? By loving others, I think. If I truly love Him, I will love those around me. I will serve them, thereby serving Him. One day, hopefully some day soon, Christ will come. I cannot wait for that day. Because, I will bow, I will kneel, and I will tell Him everything that He means to me. And I hope that He will be able to tell me that the way I lived my life reflected the love I have for Him.

This man. I love Him. I know Him. He is my Savior. My brother. My best friend. So much love. So much feeling for Him that I literally cannot express.