As I have been pondering a bit today driving from Pennsylvania to New Jersey from one meeting to another, I have been thinking about a friend who has been questioning his faith in the gospel, particularly his faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon faith. We are very good friends. The last time we met he told me about his doubts and I honestly was crushed. I was depressed for several days. We had served a mission together in France. We had been companions. We had been roommates at BYU. We had married our sweethearts in the temple a month apart. We had children almost the same ages. We had both served faithfully in callings. Now after all these years, he seemed to be leaving the faith over some things he’s read online and various places. He said that he “can’t put the genie back into the bottle.” As we were having dinner I was praying that I would know exactly what to say. I bore testimony. I encouraged him not to give up and to keep going to church. I sent him a book and some other material to read, but told him his answers could only come from God through prayer. That was the only formula for a concrete answer.
Tonight we are to have dinner again together. As I was thinking of what to say today, I had the impression to let the Savior do the saving. I’ve simply been commanded to love. I keep thinking of this over and over as it has been on my mind today. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
I don’t need to have the perfect thing to say. I just need to love. Let the Savior do the saving. The Lord can touch my friend’s heart. He knows him better than I do. God will know when his heart is ready. I just need to love him and by this he will know that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.
“Love … is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Yet it is more than the end of the rainbow. Love is at the beginning also, and from it springs the beauty that arches across the sky on a stormy day. Love is the security for which children weep, the yearning of youth, the adhesive that binds marriage, and the lubricant that prevents devastating friction in the home; it is the peace of old age, the sunlight of hope shining through death. How rich are those who enjoy it in their associations with family, friends, church, and neighbors.” – President Gordon B. Hinckley
Love is the very essence of the gospel, the noblest attribute of the human soul. Love is the remedy for ailing families, ill communities, and sick nations. Love is a smile, a wave, a kind comment, and a compliment. Love is sacrifice, service, and selflessness. – President Thomas S. Monson
Rocky Mountain Sunshine 