Love One Another

I remember when I was pregnant with my oldest, I made the conscientious decision that I was going to tell my children often that I loved them. I would hug and kiss them until they wouldn't want me to anymore, and then of course, I'd still try :) We tell each other often that we love each other. I like that. I was affectionate with my children, but yet not so much with other people back then.

When I was 23 years old, I was asked to become a Relief Society, Spiritual Living teacher on Sundays. This would entail teaching a women's group a lesson on improving spirituality one Sunday per month. I felt very inadequate; what could they possibly learn from me? Many of the sisters were what we lovingly and jokingly referred to as "newlyweds and nearly-deads", because there were a lot of young college students and a lot of senior citizens. I lived downtown and 100% of our congregation lived in apartments or condos. Our class was so large, that it had to be held in the church gymnasium. We had a lot of widows among us, and on average, we'd have about 80 women attend each class. I'll never forget after the first lesson I gave, these old ladies came up to hug me and tell me what a good job I did. Didn't they know that I wasn't used to hugs like that?

Didn't anyone tell them I wasn't raised to be a "hugger"??? I mean, I was affectionate with my babies, but not with people I barely knew!

Nevertheless, each time I taught, they'd rush me at the end to shower me with love. But that experience taught me something great. They were definitely the teachers here... They taught me about love. I learned that I loved loving. I learned that physical touch is important; that hearing and saying words of affection is imperative to spread the Love of the Lord to those whom we love and cherish.

I became a hugger after that. Since then, I've moved several times and have worked in the nursery, with the youth and again with the women. I have learned not only to accept hugs freely, but to embrace them -- in every sense of the word. A while back I read a book about opening our hearts to others. It was life changing for me. You can read about that {{HERE}} if you wish.

I remember a song from my childhood, wherein the last verse says, "It's love that makes the world go round." I think that being open to love, the giving and receiving of it, can help us to better understand our Savior. After all, God is Love and Charity is the Pure Love of Christ, right?

It is my goal and my hope to love more and to love more freely. After all, it IS love that makes the world go round. This song, "Love One Another", is one that is sung often in our congregations and it really is the only basic principle we need to remember about love.