Skip to main content

To be of service

God our Heavenly Father does not live here on earth with us.

He has visited. He has sent His Son, Jesus Christ to live with us for a time and to visit on occasion. And we enjoy the constant companionship of the God that is the Holy Ghost.

But our Father does not live here with us.

Since He is God, we desire to serve him. But since He is not here, we do not have that opportunity. So what does He command? What does He require?

There are but two great commandments - to love God and to love each other. That's it. But in order to do the first, we must do the second.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the process is set up such that in accomplishing our love for God by demonstrating our love for each other, we in turn become the biggest beneficiaries. Imagine if everyone you came in contact with genuinely loved you and wanted to serve you so that you could be happy. Everyone. I realize that's a little hard to imagine, but try it. Now turn the tables and reflect on how the world would appear if you genuinely and sincerely loved everyone YOU came in contact with, viewing them as fellow travelers on this sphere, as children of the Most High, and as eventual joint-heirs with Christ - along with you. These are people who have divine potential, who have the very spark of godhood in their souls. These are people who have needs and concerns and fears and hopes and dreams. These are people who love their families, who want to do well in life, and who just want to be loved - just like you.

Look at people with the eye of faith. Do not view them as they currently are. The greatest service we can be to people is just to love them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is this thing still on?

 Does anyone even blog anymore? I remember when it first got started and everyone was having a blog. I like writing, and I do a lot of it in my professional life, but not everything makes it onto this blog, which is where a lot of my personal thoughts come out. I put more into Facebook lately, too, because it's a little easier. But there's something to be said for this long-form writing exercise, and I think I will continue here periodically. You don't mind, do you? Well, in my last post I wrote about how difficult things were for me at the time. That changed in July when I finally got a job working for the State of Utah. I was the program manager for the moderate income housing database program, and that meant I worked from home a lot but also went in to Salt Lake when needed, mostly on the train. It was a good experience, for the most part, and I'm grateful for the things I learned even in the short time I was there.  In October I started working for Weber County in t...
1 comment
Read more

The Other Art

I'm not sure we appreciate photography as much as we do other art forms. Part of this comes from the reality that surrounds and permeates a photograph - it's very, very real, and the photographer strives for clarity and crispness in the representations. Perhaps this is why black and white images continue to be relevant - they strip away extraneous information (color) and leave us with something that is at once familiar and also non-existent - for nothing exists in black and white. Nothing. I also think that pictures are becoming too common-place... Everyone has a camera in their pocket, and while that's a very democratic thing (everyone can express themselves in a picture easily and readily, and can find an audience for these images, which are casually taken and casually viewed, and perhaps just as casually forgotten) I think that we embrace that casual attitude, and it spills over to all aspects of the media, making it impotent. So I read this article this morning: h...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Romantic Encounter

Him (tears in his eyes, heartbroken): I want you to know that I love you, that I'm sorry for my weakness and frailties, and that I will try and do better. I think I am doing better than I was before, and I just want to please you and make you happy. I am very grateful for your continued patience as I try to be the kind of man I want to be. Her: You need a haircut. It's getting a little long.
15 comments
Read more