CH3 - The Greatest Revelation: Love unfeigned

[Joanie]

Love unfeigned seems almost impossible to me.
And yet, having said that, I have found that if I pray to Heavenly Father to be able to love my husband and my children a miracle occurs. The impossible becomes much more possible.

[5ft Diva]

I'm curious to know why it seems impossible to you. I have seen you with your kids and you are very genuine w/ your love towards them.

[Joanie]

What you have seen is the miracle...

[5ft Diva]

Well, that's cool!

[Erudite]

I loved the part about love unfeigned being "a love to be trusted". I'm going to use my friend who I work with as an example again... She is also very good at this. She exudes love for people and you can trust that it is sincere. But she is also forthright in her love. She finds the good in people....oh! an ah ha moment...

I think that is what makes love unfeigned possible! You have to find the good that they see in themselves. They know you love them when you know what they love about themselves and you love it too. The Seminary doughnuts story is a good example of that. The teacher found what was good in "Steve" and loved that part of him too. He used that part to make a point to all, but what did he do for Steve that day? Steve knew he was trustworthy and now he knows he is also trusted. Does Steve know the teacher loves him? I sure hope so!

Seeing the best in people and the reason to love people is the way to communicate our love to all geniunely. For me I know that is not going overboard....I can't be too gushy because it's just not my personality to do so. I am trying to make my personality into a calm cheerleader...lol. That is someone who is excited you've done your thing, but not too excited so you can see that I am in fact sincere in my excitement. It's been easy in some ways and hard in others. Along with being excited about others' accomplishments, I am actively trying to find ways to be grateful for the actions of others. This too, when done often, comes off as sincere.

Anyway...there's my thoughts in doing "love unfeigned".

[Joanie]

Unfeigned is not a word we use much. The word I think it most closely matches is unforced. Love unforced is love that is sincere and flows naturally. You can sense when that kind of love is being given to you and when it is forced. It is pure love. In Moroni 7:47-48 we read
"But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons (daughters) of God; 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. Amen."

The part I underlined is the part that jumps out to me. You may wish and try by yourself as long as you want but it seems that we cannot achieve that kind of pure love without praying to the Father with all the energy of our hearts for Him to give it to us. As I stated earlier I have experienced this. It is something I have found that I need to pray for often. The most awesome part of it is that when I pray God hears me and always blesses me quickly with it...sometimes before the day is up I feel a difference.

[Erudite]

I like that synonym "unforced"...it helps me to imagine my love for people just flowing naturally and they accept it because it flows naturally.

[5ft Diva]

Ooohhh, I love the imagery I get from that!