February 2023 RS Newsletter

When we were young, February was a month of feeling love and sharing love.  I remember giving a plate of cookies to a boy my junior year and hoping my feelings were returned.  (They weren’t, but that’s a subject for another day…)  As adults, February can feel different, but maybe thinking about feeling and sharing love is still a good subject.

We have great desires to feel that we are loved and we belong.  President Russell M. Nelson said in October 2011, “When we realize that we are children of the covenant, we know who we are and what God expects of us. His law is written in our hearts. He is our God and we are His people.”

Ellie Young, a professor at BYU, gave a powerful talk.  She said, “Being on the covenant path can give us a sense of belonging and connectedness, especially a connection to the Savior. Covenants bind us to Christ, and, because we are bound to Him, we can become like Him. Being bound to Christ means that we know Him. We feel His comforting love. We feel His guiding hand in our lives. Because we feel His amazingly generous and compassionate love, we have a desire to love as He does.

When I really understand God’s love, I understand that He will accept my whining, doubting heart. He will help me to become increasingly more understanding of His ways. He will help me to become more compassionate and charitable over time. We change as we are building a steadfast covenant relationship with the Savior…

[Jesus] promises that He will take the tender, scary, and painful parts of our stories and help us make sense of what is happening. Similar to the work of an effective psychologist, the Lord promises that He will help us find new ways to move through what is difficult. And because Christ is the expert counselor, He is always understanding, accepting, and willing to listen to our stories again and again.”

Isn’t Jesus amazing!  He loves each of us.  He knows each of our stories.  He listens and He never tires of our weaknesses or our bruises.  He envelops us in His love and makes space for all of it… all of our mess… all of the details.  I am ever amazed by His mercy and His patience.  We may put a lot of pressure on ourselves, but He kindly leads us to green pastures and still waters.  He can help us feel belonging even when it feels elusive elsewhere.  One way He does this is by offering us covenants of baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and temple covenants to “make us His”.

As we feel God’s love for us, we have a growing desire to share it.  Sister Young shares, “When I really feel that godly love, I find that I am more inclined to focus on building up those around me. As I feel that love, being less judgmental seems a bit easier, and being generous rather than stingy seems like the right thing to do…

Christ gently tutors us to love as He does. During Christ’s earthly ministry, He repeatedly reached out to those who were suffering, those who were different, and those who were on the margins. Our covenant-keeping task seems to be the same: to love as Christ loved. And for me, that starts with suspending judgment… Rather than judge, I can recognize that I do not know the hidden trauma, hurts, or fears of others.”  

She references Mosiah 18:8–9, where it discusses our covenant of baptism:

As ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life.

As covenant-making and keeping daughters of God, we feel God’s love and we practice sharing it.  The ultimate purpose is that we may eventually truly become like Him: we would think like and treat others the way He would.  As we practice, we learn to offer grace, patience, empathy, and understanding to those around us.  We help others feel like they also belong in His fold.  We won’t always get it right and sometimes it is challenging to feel and show love to everyone.  But over time, it gets easier and His transforming power and love creates us into “new creatures” that DO love as He does.

I am grateful that I belong in His kingdom and for His transforming power.  I am glad He is ever so gently helping me become more like Him.  And I’m glad that we get to go on this growing journey together, Sisters.  I hope you feel of His love for you and that you will find ways to share that love with all those you meet. Truly as we practice, our hearts grow so we love as He does.

Source: Ellie L. Young, “The Transformative Power of Covenants”, https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/ellie-l-young/transformative-power-covenants/