Good afternoon brothers and sisters,
My talk today will be modeled after President Monson’s talk
given in the October 2010 General Conference entitled, “Charity never faileth.
I’d like to begin with a short story which illustrates a
point I’d like to make today in my talk. It’s a classic account of judging by appearance and was
printed in a national magazine many years ago. It is a true account—one that
you may have heard before, but is worth repeating.
A woman by the name of Mary
Bartels had a home directly across the street from the entrance to a hospital
clinic. Her family lived on the main floor and rented the upstairs rooms to
outpatients at the clinic.
One evening a truly
awful-looking old man came to the door asking if there was room for him to stay
the night. He was stooped and shriveled, his face was lopsided from swelling,
and his skin had a painful red and raw appearance. He said he’d been hunting
for a room since noon but with no success. “I guess it’s my face,” he said. “I
know it looks terrible, but my doctor says it could possibly improve after more
treatments.” He indicated he’d be happy to sleep in the rocking chair on the
porch.
As she talked with him, Mary
realized this little old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body.
Although her rooms were filled, she told him to wait in the chair and she’d
find him a place to sleep.
At bedtime Mary’s husband set up
a cot for the man. When she checked in the morning, the bed linens were neatly
folded and he was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he
left for his bus, he asked if he could return the next time he had a treatment.
“I won’t put you out a bit,” he promised. “I can sleep fine in a chair.” Mary
assured him he was welcome anytime.
In the several years he went for
treatments and stayed in Mary’s home, the old man, who was a fisherman by
trade, always gave Mary and her family gifts of seafood or vegetables from his
garden. Other times he sent packages in the mail.
When Mary received these
thoughtful gifts, she often thought of a comment her next-door neighbor made
after the disfigured, stooped old man had left Mary’s home that first morning.
“Did you keep that awful-looking man last night? I turned him away. You can
lose customers by housing such people.”
Mary knew that maybe they had lost
customers once or twice, but she thought, “Oh, if only they could have known
him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear.”
After the man passed away, Mary
was visiting with a friend who had a greenhouse. As she looked at her friend’s
flowers, she noticed a beautiful golden chrysanthemum but was puzzled that it
was growing in a dented, old, rusty bucket. Her friend explained, “I ran short
of pots, and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn’t
mind starting out in this old pail. It’s just for a little while, until I can
put it in the garden.”
Mary smiled as she imagined just
such a scene in heaven. “Here’s an especially beautiful one,” God might have
said when He came to the soul of the little old man. “He won’t mind starting in
this small, misshapen body.” But that was long ago, and now in God’s garden how
tall his lovely soul must stand!
Appearances can be so deceiving. They’re the first thing a
person notices, but they’re such a poor measure of a person. Which is why in
John 7: 24 the Savior admonishes us to “Judge not according to the appearance.”
President Monson posed the question: If attitudes, deeds,
and spiritual inclinations were reflected in physical features, would the
criticizing neighbor be as lovely as the old man she refused to house?
Brothers and Sisters, as many of you know I have been called
to serve in the Chile, Viña del Mar Mission. For those of you not familiar with
the country I’ll give you a brief overview.
There are cities with paved roads, and there are towns with
dirt paths. There are those who are educated with college degrees, and some
never learned to read. Some Chileans
live in nice modern homes, others live in plywood shacks. There are those who
can afford the latest fashions and those who are lucky to have one appropriate
outfit. And these are just differences among the Chilean people. When I compare
myself, these differences become almost endless.
Do these differences lead us to judge one another more
easily?
Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in
India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: “If you judge people, you
have no time to love them.” In John 15:12 the Savior commands us that we love one
another, as He has loved us.Is it possible to love one another, as the Savior commanded,
if we are busy judging each other? I answer with Mother Teresa: no, we cannot.
In order to follow Christ’s commandment and love our
brothers and sisters the same way Jesus loves us, we need to develop charity,
for charity never faileth, and except ye have charity ye can in nowise be saved
in the kingdom of God.
What is charity? The prophet Mormon teaches us in Moroni
chapter 7 verse 47 that, “charity is the pure love of Christ.”
I consider charity, or “the pure love of Christ,” to be the
opposite of criticism and judging. There is a serious need for the charity that
gives attention to those who are unnoticed, hope to those who are discouraged,
and to those who are afflicted. True charity is love in action. The need for
charity is everywhere.
Jesus Christ’s entire life is an exemplary example of
charity, for it is His love and sacrifice that make it possible for us to
overcome our shortcomings and erase our mistakes.
In John 8:1-11 it gives my favorite example of
Christ refusing to judge, and instead exercises charity.
And early in the morning he came
again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down,
and taught them.
And the scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her
in the midst. They said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in
the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be
stoned: but what sayest thou?
This they said, tempting him,
that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on
the ground, as though he heard them not.
So when they continued asking
him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among
you, let him first cast a stone at her.
And again he stooped down, and
wrote on the ground.
And they which heard it, being
convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning
at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and
the woman standing in the midst.
When Jesus had lifted up
himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those
thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
She said, No man, Lord. And
Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go,
and sin no more.
None of us are perfect. I know of no one who would claim to
be perfect. And yet for some reason, despite our own imperfections, we have a
tendency to point out the imperfections of others. We make judgments concerning
their actions.
There is really no way we can know the heart, the
intentions, or the circumstances of someone who might say or do something we
find reason to criticize. Thus the commandment: “Judge not.”
In a hundred small ways, all of us wear the mantle of
charity. Life is perfect for none of us. Rather than being judgmental and critical
of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ. May we recognize that each
one is doing his or her best to deal with the challenges, which come his or her
way, and may we strive to do our best to help out.
I pray that while I am in Chile I will be able to withhold
judgment; that I will be able to see the people of Chile as glorious children
of God. That I will be able to look past an individual’s appearance, circumstance,
or behavior, and see them as my Father in Heaven sees them, and know that they
are never out of reach of Christ’s gospel and his infinite atonement. I pray
that I will have the courage to speak to those who’ll listen, and the humility
to follow the spirit. And above all, I pray for charity, for charity never
faileth.
I’ve been incredibly blessed to live in a community where I
have the opportunity to know so many friends who are out on missions, and so
many more who are preparing to go. There’s a primary hymn that sums up
perfectly this neat opportunity, and I’d like to share a couple verses…
1. We have been born, as Nephi of old,
To goodly parents who love the
Lord.
We have been taught, and we
understand,
That we must do as the Lord
commands.
2. We have been saved for these latter days
To build the kingdom in
righteous ways.
We hear the words our prophet
declares:
"Let each who's worthy go
forth and share."
3. We know his plan, and we will prepare,
Increase our knowledge through
study and prayer.
Daily we'll learn until we are
called
To take the gospel to all the
world.
Chorus:
We are as the army of Helaman.
We have been taught in our
youth.
And we will be the Lord's
missionaries
To bring the world his truth.
I’d like to say thank you to all my friends and family
who’ve traveled to be her today, and for the great support they’ve been in my
life.
I’m so appreciative to be a member of this ward family,
where I feel like I have 5 sets of
grandparents, 50 nieces and nephews, and 30 crazy aunts and uncles.
I’m so grateful for my grandparents and the example they’ve
been to me in serving a mission, and for my parents and how they raised me in
the gospel.
But mostly I’m grateful for my knowledge of Jesus Christ and
his restored church, and the opportunity I have to share His message with the
people of Chile.
I know that there is a God, and that he is my Father and I
his daughter. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I know that
Joseph Smith restored the true gospel on the earth and because of that my life
has been eternally blessed. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of
God, and I know that the apostles received direct revelation from God when
assigning me to the Chile, Viña del Mar Mission.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
