Note: This is the message Sister Stacy sent with her lesson outline...she is preparing to move in March to Alaska...."I am bummed, church was cancelled and I wasn't able to teach the lesson I have been working on all week. This is my last lesson before I will be released so it makes it even more sad for me. I will miss teaching in this ward."
George Albert Smith was well known for his capacity to love others. President J. Reuben Clark Jr., one of his counselors in the First Presidency, said of him: “His real name was Love. … He gave his love to everyone he met. He gave his love to all whom he did not meet.”
We have probably all heard the scripture that says:
The Savior said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, this is the first and great commandment.
“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:37–40.]
President Smith’s love for others grew from his sincere conviction that we are all brothers and sisters, children of the same Heavenly Father.
Quote #1: “I do not have an enemy that I know of, and there is no one in the world that I have any enmity towards. All men and all women are my Father’s children, and I have sought during my life to observe the wise direction of the Redeemer of mankind—to love my neighbor as myself. … You will never know how much I love you. I have not words to express it. And I want to feel that way toward every son and every daughter of my Heavenly Father.”
*What do you think he did in his life to develop this kind of love for his fellow men?
Ripple Effect:
Center: Love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
First Ripple: Love for Our Family
Second Ripple: Love for Our Ward Family
Third Ripple: Love for Friends, Neighbors, Community.
As we put our Heavenly Father and Our savior in the middle of that and keep that first commandment, the other areas of our lives and people in our lives will be affected. Our love will ripple out to those other areas.
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ: Our Heavenly Father has said in very plain terms that he who says he loves God and does not love his brother is not truthful. What a powerful statement. *So how do we show our love for them? The answer is given in this scripture:
Matthew 25:40
"And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethern, ye have done it unto me."
By loving others and keeping the commandments. Our actions say much more than our words ever could.
Our Family: How can we show love for our family?
When I was reading his biography I was so impressed by the love he had for his family, especially the love he showed for his wife. “Father’s affection and consideration of mother were beautiful. He never lost an opportunity to show his appreciation of her. While we all adored mother, I am sure that his thoughtfulness and tenderness toward her made her even more beloved by us children.” It started at home and went out to the world.
Our Ward Family:
If the gospel of Jesus Christ, as delivered to you, has not planted that feeling of love in your hearts for your fellow men, then I want to say that you have not enjoyed the full fruition of that wonderful gift that came to earth when this Church was organized.
*What can we do to show love for our ward?
Visiting and Home Teaching
Quote #2: Our ministry is one of love. Our service is one which enriches our lives. … If we are living as God intends that we should live, if we are ministering as he desires that we should minister, every day of our lives is enriched by the influence of his Spirit, our love of our fellowmen increases and our souls are enlarged until we feel that we could take into our arms all of God’s children, with a desire to bless them and bring them to an understanding of the truth.
Our Friends, Neighbors & Community: How can we show love for and give service to them? Sometimes I think we get overwhelmed with this idea. We think our service needs to be some grandiose thing or it is not worth doing. But I think we forget there are small things that we can do in our own neighborhoods that make a big difference to those we come in contact with. *Example: When I was 9 months pregnant any time I would go grocery shopping and would come home my neighbor would come out of her house walk across the street and help me unload my groceries without me even asking her to. Her small act of service was such a blessing and made a big difference to me.
George Albert Smith was the perfect example of this when he did this small act of kindness for someone he didn’t know.
Quote #3: “On a cold winter morning, the street cleaning crew [in Salt Lake City] was removing large chunks of ice from the street gutters. The regular crew was assisted by temporary laborers who desperately needed the work. One such wore only a lightweight sweater and was suffering from the cold. A slender man with a well-groomed beard stopped by the crew and asked the worker, ‘You need more than that sweater on a morning like this. Where is your coat?’ The man replied that he had no coat to wear. The visitor then removed his own overcoat, handed it to the man and said, ‘This coat is yours. It is heavy wool and will keep you warm. I just work across the street.’ The street was South Temple. The good Samaritan who walked into the Church Administration Building to his daily work and without his coat was President George Albert Smith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His selfless act of generosity revealed his tender heart. Surely he was his brother’s keeper.”
The Lord says this:
“See that ye love one another.”
“And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity.”
*Give me a brief definition of Charity…
*What are some things that make it hard to have charity for people at times?
I want to say that at this particular period of our lives we need to exercise charity, not only in imparting of our substance to those who are in need, but we need to have charity for the weaknesses and failures and mistakes of our Father’s children.
Quote#4: If we find a man or a woman who has not succeeded in life, one who is weakening in his faith, let us not turn our backs upon him; let us make it a point to visit him, and go to him in kindness and love, and encourage him to turn from the error of his way. I haven’t any animosity in my heart toward any living human being. I know some that I wish would behave themselves a little better than they do, but that is their loss, not mine. If I can get my arm around them and help them back on the highway of happiness by teaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ, my happiness will be increased thereby…
You cannot drive people to do things which are right, but you can love them into doing them, if your example is of such a character that they can see you mean what you say.
*Another example, in the last ward we were in I was assigned to VT a lady who had not been active for several years. We visited her for the first time, and she said no one has ever come to visit me more than once. I made a promise to her that we would change that. We consistently saw her each month, got to know and love her and after about 6 months she came back to church and after two years she is still active. She needed to know that she was cared about and loved by being visited. That said more to her than any words could.
*What experiences have you had where you have given love or service to someone else and it has made you feel truly happy?
True happiness comes from loving and serving others.
Do not forget no matter how much you may give in money, no matter how you may desire the things of this world to make yourselves happy, your happiness will be in proportion to your charity and to your kindness and to your love of those with whom you associate here on earth.
It isn’t only what we receive that makes us happy; it is what we give,
When our life here is ended and we return home, we will find credited to us there every good act we have performed, every kindness we have done, every effort we have put forth to benefit our fellows. …
All people are our brothers and sisters, children of our Heavenly Father.
Quote #5: We look upon all men as our brothers, all women as our sisters; we look upon the face of every human being that is in the world as a child of our Father…we feel that our happiness will not be complete in the kingdom of heaven unless we enjoy the companionship of our families and those of our friends and associates with whom we have become acquainted and in whose interest we give so much of our time on earth.
What a happy world it would be if men everywhere recognized their fellowmen as brothers and sisters, and then followed that up by loving their neighbors as themselves.
