Gospel Message Day 40

Charity, Part 2

"Charity is our love for the Lord, shown through our acts of service, patience, compassion, and understanding for one another.... Charity is also the Lord's love for us, shown through his acts of service, patience, compassion, and understanding." (Choosing Charity: That Good Part, Bonnie D. Parkin) (P.S. The song she references at the beginning of the video clip--I was part of that choir!)

I love that she breaks charity down into those 4 things:
Service - that's what we usually think of with charity. Helping others and such.

Patience - this is where I need the most help, especially as it is needed every moment at my job! I seem to have a store of patience that can get used up pretty fast some days. I was just thinking this morning how does one improve patience? Or grow it? Or add to it? Honestly, the only thing I can think of is asking Heavenly Father for help with that. The Savior can do marvelous things, and I think He would be quite willing to help me be more patient, and have it much more long-lasting.

Compassion - To me, compassion is sincerely caring about and for someone. The sincerity of that caring naturally leads us to want to help someone, take care of them, and help them know and feel that they are loved. Other words that I associate with compassion include kindness, gentleness, love, heartfelt service. It seems pretty obvious why compassion would be a part of charity.

Understanding - This isn't the first thing that comes to mind with charity, but it makes sense. So much harm and sorrow come when misunderstanding occurs. I learned in a communication training that understanding doesn't have to mean agreeing. A person wants others to acknowledge where they are coming from, to accept that that is how/why that person thinks/feels/acts.