I Love You Because…
There is this beautiful song that Hilary Weeks sings that says “He loves me even while even when. He loves me anyway in spite of…” saying that Christ loves us even as we make mistakes. I want to add to this thought though. Recently I have been thinking a lot about the Millennium and when all our loved ones are whole. When I won’t have Anxiety anymore, because it will have been my time to be healed. I think of my loved ones and what healing might be like for them, so excited to meet the healed version of them, because if I can love the imperfect version of them as much as I do, man the healed version? I can’t imagine how amazing they will be.
With these thoughts came the idea that the Lord loves me because of and with my faults. He loves all of us with all of our faults. Think about it? Think about the atonement and all the pain our Savior went through. The Bible says “He bleed from every pore” He knew we would screw up and yet He still came. He still came to this earth, to suffer, bleed, and die for me, for you, for all of us. He loved me, knowing I would make mistakes. I caused him some of that pain; that idea hurts me, but I know I did. Guess what? He still loves me, and He still loves you.
What does this mean for me though? How do I apply this love more fully to myself? If the Lord can love me with all my mistakes and imperfections, how can I learn to love others this way? When I think of how I can do this, the first step in my brain always comes back to draw closer to Christ.
On my mission we used to teach people about spiritual CPR, or church, pray, read. Just like CPR helps keep a person alive, spiritual CPR helps keep our spirits alive. I would add to this though. I believe a huge part of spiritual wellness is the temple, the house of the Lord. Temples have been a big part of General Conference and other church devotionals, I will one day spend a whole post talking about my LOVE of temples. For now, I just want to share one thought from President Russell M. Nelson’s most recent conference talk in October 2024, “Regular worship in the temple will help us. In the house of the Lord, we focus on Jesus Christ. We learn of Him. We make covenants to follow him. We come to know Him…” I have seen the difference regular temple attendance makes in my life and the lives of those around me. I know that sometimes it feels impossible to go to the temple, but it isn’t. I promise, get yourself there. Walk through those doors, blessings will come, the hardest part is getting there.
I want to learn to love like Christ I know the little things are the place to start. I work very hard to have weekly temple attendance and believe that because of that I can see people the way Christ sees them. I’m not always perfect at it, sometimes people frustrate me, but I know the temple helps. Now I’m not perfect and while I keep up my weekly temple attendance I plan on working towards improving my scripture study. I look forward to the blessings I will see from that and I look forward to the great blessings we will all see from the temple!
Sources:
Nelson, Russell M. "The Lord Jesus Christ Will Come Again." General Conference, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Oct. 2024, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/57nelson.
The Holy Bible: King James Version. Thomas Nelson, 2002.
Weeks, Hilary. Even When. Say Love, Shadow Mountain Records, 2011.
