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I cheated.

Tomorrow I give a talk in sacrament meeting, and as I felt less than inspired in trying to prepare one, I am using one I gave in a different ward two years ago. It seems to fit in enough with the topic "Our relationship with Christ."

References are meagear. After rereading this, I realize there are parts I would say differently. So here's the talk in its unedited state:

Heber shivered in the cold. He pulled his thin coat tighter around him. His birthday was approaching soon, and he wanted nothing else but a warm coat. But he knew he would only cause his mother concern if he mentioned it. They were so poor. Sometimes they would go early to bed because they didn’t have enough wood to burn for heat. Sometimes they would go hungry to bed because they did not have enough to eat. Heber’s mother would often sew late into the night for other people in order to earn a little money.

As Heber’s birthday came, his mother celebrated and gave him the most beautiful coat he had ever seen. It was made of the material that his mother had recently used to sew, and the coat fit him perfectly. Heber could hardly wait until he could go outside to test his new coat.

I am amazed at the sacrifice this poor mother went through to provide for her son. I’m sure there were many nights when she must have felt too tired to go on. But it must have been the love for her child that held her through so that she could finish her project. This story continues:

A few weeks later Heber was on an errand for his mother when he saw a boy of his age who was crying because of the cold. He only had a light jacket on, and Heber knew how he must be freezing. The boy looked longingly at Heber’s warm coat. Heber stopped, took off his coat without thinking, and gave it to the boy.

The next day Heber put on his old coat. When his mother saw him, she asked, “What have you done with your beautiful new coat?” Heber wondered if he should tell her. Then he explained, “I met a boy who needed the coat more than I, and that’s why I gave him the coat.”

“Couldn’t you have given him your old coat?” she asked.

Heber looked at her and hoped she would understand. Then he saw how her eyes filled with tears. He threw his arms around her, and she answered her own question: “Of course you couldn’t, Heber, of course you couldn’t.”

It is not surprising that Heber J. Grant later became one of the presidents of our church. He learned compassion, sacrifice and love for others at such a young age. An old axiom states that a man “all wrapped up in himself makes a small bundle.” Though he was young and small, Heber’s heart was filled with charity. “Love has a way of making a small bundle large.” (President Hunter)

How do we develop this type of love? It may seem ironic, but if you want to increase your love of those around you, it is best to seek out Christ. As your love of Christ develops, your capacity to love others enlarges. You are able to see others as Christ sees them. You are open for the Spirit to guide you in your interactions with your family, your coworkers, your neighbors, and with strangers. For God knows their hearts, and he understands the needs of his children. What better way to love others, than to love them as Christ would.

It makes sense, then, that the first great commandment is to “love the Lord ...with all [our] heart, and with all [our] soul, and with all [our] mind.” The second commandment follows naturally after this, that we “love our neighbor as ourselves” (Matt. 22:37, 39).

Love is a heavenly gift. We are taught that we must pray for it. Mormon urges us to “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that [we] may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ..”

Elder John A. Widtsoe said, “The full and essential nature of love we may not understand. But there are tests by which it may be recognized.
“Love is always founded in truth. … Lies and deceit, or any other violation of the moral law, are proofs of love’s absence. Love perishes in the midst of untruth.
“Further, love does not offend or hurt or injure the loved one. … Cruelty is as absent from love … as truth is from untruth. …
“Love is a positive active force. It helps the loved one. If there is need, love tries to supply it. If there is weakness, love supplants it with strength. … Love that does not help is a faked or transient love.
“Good as these tests are, there is a greater one. True love sacrifices for the loved one. … That is the final test. Christ gave of Himself, gave His life, for us, and thereby proclaimed the reality of his love for his mortal brethren and sisters.” (An Understandable Religion, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1944, p. 72.)

So some qualities of love are this: it is founded in truth; it seeks to uplift; it is a positive force; it sacrifices. Love is a principle of righteousness. Perhaps these qualities are best illustrated between parents and their children, just as Heber’s mom was able to sacrifice of herself for her son.

It is easy to love those that are lovable. But what about those who have hurt or offended us?

We know the saying that a “chain is as strong as its weakest link.” I wonder if we can say the same about our capacity to love. It would go something like this, “Our capacity to love is measured by the person we love the least.”

President Hunter said, “The key is to love our neighbor, including the neighbor that is difficult to love. We need to remember that though we make our friends, God has made our neighbors—everywhere. Love should have no boundary; we should have no narrow loyalties. Christ said, “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?” (Matt. 5:46).

It seems President Hunter would remind us that every person on this earth is a child of our Heavenly Father, even those who seem to be filled with hate. Perhaps this simple fact can help us love everyone. How would our attitude change if during a heated discussion, we remember that we are talking to one of his children?

When I was in 8th grade, our family moved from California to Colorado. It was halfway into the school year, and everyone had established their friends already. I was the new guy, and my shy disposition didn’t help me break into their social circles. For some reason, there was one particular boy who didn’t like me from our first meeting. We had two classes together, and every time he saw me, he would taunt and ridicule me in front of other students.

I wasn’t used to this type of behavior, and I certainly didn’t know how to handle it. But I had read and had been taught that we should pray for our enemies and those that despitefully use us. I began to pray for this boy by name every night before I went to bed. I don’t remember exactly what I prayed for, but I tried to have his best interest in mind. Well, he didn’t change his behavior immediately. But I noticed my heart changed. I felt compassion to him. His taunting could not touch me. It was like I was protected with the love of God. My capacity to love him developed because I saw him as my brother who was struggling with his own inadequacies. I learned that the way he treated me was a reflection of his own self, and not of me and my worth. Through the love of God, any negative feelings I might have felt for him melted away.

Love can heal. Love can close the gaps that bitterness and anger have left behind. I am reminded of the words:

He drew a circle that shut me out—
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in.
(Edwin Markham, “Outwitted.”)

In first John we read: “Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” (1 Jn. 4:10-11.)

While God rewards us for keeping his commandments, there is nothing we do to earn his love. He does not love us because we are good, or talented, or fun to be around. He does not love us because we are successful in our careers, or because of our looks or dress, or because we have earned high prestige. He does not love us through our own merit. He loves us because he is good. Perhaps that is why he loves even the sinner while still not tolerating the sin.

Henry Drummond, in his writing on the subject of Christ’s love, tells of a man who went to see a dying boy. He put his hand on the boy’s head to comfort him and said, “ ‘My boy, God loves you.’ ” The boy soon arose “from his bed, and called out to the people in the house, ‘God loves me! God loves me!’ One word! It changed that boy. The sense that God loved him overpowered him, melted him down, and began the creating of a new heart in him. And that is how the love of God melts down the unlovely heart in man, and begets in him the new creature, who is patient and humble and gentle and unselfish. And there is no other way to get it. There is no mystery about it. We love others, we love everybody, we love our enemies, because He first loved us.” (The Greatest Thing in the World, Old Tappon, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell Co., n.d., pp. 47-48.)

Brothers and sisters, let us remember the love that Heavenly Father and Christ have for us. Let us seek after that love so that we may be filled with charity, “that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure” (Moroni 7:48).