A businessman associated with the travel industry visited a popular theme park, a place designed to bring families together for a day of fun and recreation. Returning to his car at the conclusion of the day's business, he heard the sharp edge of anger in raised voices coming from a nearby car. While children cried in the back seat, a man and woman hurled angry accusations at each other in the front seat.

The businessman told a friend that he had been so bothered by the scene that he went to his hotel room and telephoned his wife and children just so he could hear some voices of love.

"Voices of love." What an apt description for words that express care, tenderness and kindness.

We need not listen long to hear voices riddled with anger, discord, contention, criticism and even hate. Those voices ring in our ears in many arenas. Unfortunately, such voices sometimes are raised in the very places where one ought to find "only love spoken here."

The home is one of them. Granted, few people expect to find only harmony, peace and contentment all the time in every home. At times, children will bicker, quarrel and even fight. Spouses might disagree, perhaps even argue. For the most part, however, home should be a place where love prevails.

"Love one another. Have love in your homes and in your hearts!" President Spencer W. Kimball admonished members at the April 1982 general conference.

The home is love's incubator. Once love is nourished in the home, it grows strong and big enough to reach beyond a solitary household and extended family. Gaining strength with each bestowal, love can spread to friends, neighbors and associates as it emanates from home to the neighborhood and beyond, even to the world.

Jesus said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Matt. 22:39.)

What keeps people from loving others? Certainly, nothing that comes from the Lord. Of love's opposite, the resurrected Savior said to the Nephites:

"He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

"Behold, this is not my doctrine to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away." (3 Nephi 11:29-30.)

Many people go through life without hearing any expressions of love. Think about it: Yours might be the only voice of love some people ever hear.

We read of famines and other natural disasters, wars and epidemics that cut people off from the rest of the world. We feel pity as we look at newspaper pictures of people starving to death because relief agencies cannot reach them. Such tender feelings show our compassionate natures. Yet, while we're concerned about people in other countries or on other continents, we're surrounded by many who, just as surely, are withering away — not because they want for food but for the lack of expressions of love.

A young woman commented one time that she didn't remember anyone — not even her parents — saying to her the words all yearn to hear: "I love you." A friend asked if she believed that her parents loved her. Certainly, they must have, she said. They were kind to her. They provided well for her, even to the point of sacrificing some of their own wants to give her everything she needed. But they never told her that they loved her. We can almost hear legions of parents say, "Of course, I love my children. They know I love them; I don't have to tell them that. Isn't it obvious?"

While actions do speak louder than words, there are certain words that must not be used sparingly in the home. Three words — "I love you" — top the list.

Next to the home, the setting where voices of love should be heard frequently is at Church. It is there that the teachings of the home are enhanced, where we learn more of the Savior who went about doing good. He established a new standard for living: "Love one another." (John 15:12.) As we study scriptures and the teachings of the prophets together in auxiliary and quorum meetings, we learn that He taught His followers to forgive and to love one another.

As Church members, we ought to strive to emulate the Savior. We should strive to express love from the podium, in the classrooms and hallways. No one should go home from Church without having heard some expression of love. After all, His is the gospel of love.