Let's Talk about Love

Hey everyone! I know it's been awhile, but I just wanted to take a minute and talk about love.

Since I had a lesson on it in Relief Society last week, shout out to my fantastic RS sisters, I've been really pondering love in its different forms and how we can show love to other people in different ways.

My favorite and probably the most important is Christ-like love. There are so many ways we can show Christ-like love; this includes anything from smiling and saying “hello” to a random stranger in the grocery store to taking the time to sincerely compliment others to simply being a good friend. Something I have been working on along those lines is making a point to smile at the people I walk past, hold eye contact (yes, it's super awkward, but definitely good practice), and give a friendly “hello”, sometimes with a compliment. I do it for other people, but wow does it make a difference in my day when someone smiles and says “hi” first.

Recently, I helped plan and decorate for the institute Valentines dance, and we had a young mother with a couple of little girls come by to talk to someone. While their mom was busy, we let the girls come check out and approve our ‘princess room’, which they absolutely loved. It may not be the same girl, but I was about to cross the crosswalk in front of the institute building when this little girl rode up to me on her scooter and held her arms out and said “hug?” Who could say no to that?! Man, kids have the purest Christ-like love. It gives me comfort that people I don't even know (kids, though they may be) can feel comfortable enough to give Christ-like love to essentially a stranger.

One of my all-time favorite ways to practice showing love for the people in your life that you might be closer to is to learn the love languages. I say learn because most people have a couple of love languages that speak to them more, but not everyone prefers the same love languages. Personally, I’m all about words of affirmation, touch, and quality time. However, a large portion of my family prefers either gift giving or service, which is sometimes hard, but it's  awesome because I get to learn to accept and give love in ways that may not speak to me as much. That way, I can become better at being a more loving person, which is not always easy.

It is sometimes very easy to become hurt or offended by the things other people do that are not always kind. In my experience, if you focus on any possible reason they could have been uncharacteristically rude, you may find yourself better able to love people that are less similar to you. One of my friends was being constantly hurt emotionally by their father who disowned them but kept in contact. Said friend has made some incredibly offensive comments about my appearance, and maybe they were kind of right that I looked weird that day or any of the other days, but after trying to get to know this friend better, I came to love my friend more when I realized they were hurting as much or more than I was smarting from their comments, which was the real reason their comments were so barbed.

As an added bonus, whenever that friend would compliment me, I knew they really did think I looked good, which only helped build my weakened self-confidence. It is sometimes hard to feel loveable. So, so hard. It may cause you to feel stuck or desperate. Trust me, I have been there. The beauty of love is that because it is one of the commandments we have been given, we are guaranteed blessings of love in return. Whether it comes from strangers, family, friends, or a significant other, if we all try to show our love towards other people, we will feel the loving influence of our Heavenly Father in return.

It's not going to be easy. There is always going to be that person in your life that is soooooo hard to love. Maybe it is yourself. I know it can be hard to love myself sometimes. My suggestion is to take time and find someone you can love. Even if all you can do is look at yourself and remind yourself you are a child of God who loves you infinitely, it will make all the difference. Focusing on loving Christ-like way can definitely save. I know it's saved me almost every day of my life. Once you've started focusing on love,  let me know how it goes! I want to hear it all; the awkward moments and fails are just as good to talk about as the successes. Just because you may not be successful at loving all the time doesn't mean it's over for you. (That's  what the Atonement is for ☺.)

...“Love will lead you

Lift and find you

Flow then to others

Heal and bind you

    And will save.”

‘Tori’ by Jeffrey Bowers