Tuesday, December 5, 2000

D&C 88:123-126 -- On Bonding

"See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous; learn to impart one to another as the gospel requires.
Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.
And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace.
Pray always, that ye may not faint, until I come.  Behold, and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself.  Amen."
Doctrine and Covenants 88:123-126


There is a lot of good stuff in here.  First verse:  love people. :)  Don't be jealous of who they are, what they have... you're cool all by yourself.  Learn to be nice, and give of yourself and your stuff to other people.  It is a lot more fun than jealousy. :)  Verse two: No doing nothing.  If you are sitting still, you'd better be pondering. :)  No being unclean.  Take a shower. :)  Physically *and* spiritually.  Don't be picking out people's faults... don't sleep all day.  Go to bed early, get up early.  :)  Most important, verse three:  love people.  I like the word "bond" in here... it's like a bond between people, holding them together.  That's what our communities are made of... human bonding. :)  And when we are all bound together... that is peace and perfection. 

I think the first two verses lead up to this one... beginning with love, and then ending here with charity... that love, even in its simplest forms, leads us to this highly complex and ultimate version... charity, the pure love of Christ.  And then, the other things in verses 2 and 3 build on that simple love, helping us to refine it, and to refine ourselves... the sleeping thing could be so that we are never grouchy and yell at people when we get up in the morning. :) ... but it is cool to think about.  When we learn to love people as Christ loves us, then we will have achieved the perfection and peace that we seek... and then, as a follow up... when we have started down this path, and the going gets tough... Pray always.  This is what protects us from falling down and giving up sometimes. 

Love isn't always easy, especially that "love your enemies" part.  But God will give us the strength to stand, to continue on the path... to learn how to love, how to be a perfect people, a perfect community... how to embrace that perfection and peace that he has in store for us.  Today... try to build some bonds with people... the things that tie us all together.  The more bonds, and the stronger they are... the closer we are to perfection as a community. :)  Let’s get out there and love. :)

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