What really matters in life: 'What kind of people we are'
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Sharing and giving, as well as graciousness and kindness, are not optional elements of the gospel, but are the heart of it, said Elder Marion D. Hanks of the Presidency of Seventy.
Speaking at the priesthood meeting Saturday evening, Elder Hanks said, "We are here on this earth to learn, after the example of the Father and the Son, to love enough to give - to use our agency unselfishly. We are here to learn to do the will of the Father."The love we speak of is not just a word or a feeling, or a sentiment. John wrote, `My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and truth.' (1 John 3:18.) "Decency and honor and unselfishness, good manners and good taste are expected of us," declared Elder Hanks. "What really matters after all is what kind of people we are. . . ."
Elder Hanks presented vignettes that illustrated various ways love is expressed through personal choice.
One vignette was of a father and his young son lying awake at night, grieving the death of the mother. "As the two lie silently in the dark, said Elder Hanks, "the lad speaks: `Daddy, are you looking at me?
" `Yes, son,' the father replies, `I am looking at you.'
"The boy falls asleep, and the father later, weeping, cries out in the dark in anxious anguish: `God, are you looking at me? If you are, maybe I can make it. Without you, I know I can't.' "Our Heavenly Father is looking at us," emphasized Elder Hanks. "In His plan, He authorizes us to act for Him, to be instruments of His concern for His children. He will not force any of us to make choices that lead to happiness. But he has given each of us the right and responsibility to make personal choices, individual decisions, and has made us accountable for them. "He not only affects our lives, He is affected by them. Sometimes He weeps for us."
Elder Hanks recounted several other vignettes, and then concluded by quoting 2 Chronicles 29:11:
"My sons, be not now negligent: for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him."
