"How to Grow Love" & "Now and Most"

We recently had Stake Conference. The Saturday talks centered on the new ministering program ministering.lds.org

My favorite talk was by Elder Cornish of the Seventy, who spoke about the cycle of love and serving others, the way it grows more love in our hearts. He shared the scripture 1 John 4:19, "We love God because He first loved us." He asked how anyone could ever love another when that other has done nothing for the one who loves them.

Elder Cornish has delivered hundreds of babies throughout his career and he gave the example of a mother's love to answer his own question. "What did that baby ever do for the mother those nine months in the womb or those first couple years of life? She loves because of the time and sacrifice she has given in total selfless service to her baby."

Elder Cornish then testified that if we  have faith in God's infinite and perfect love for us and allow it to work within our hearts so we can really feel who we are to Him, let it change us, fill us with hope. And then, try and share that love with others through charitable acts and service, showing them what God's love feels like - our love will grow in two ways; Our love for those we serve and the ability to feel God's love for ourselves.

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The Sunday talks were mostly centered around the 4th commandment -honoring the Sabbath Day and keeping it holy. I have a strong testimony of the blessings that come from treating the Sabbath with reverence and using it to honor the sacrifice of our Savior and be about His ministry.

Again, the talk that really stood out to me was Elder Cornish's. He spoke about "now" and "most". He said that too often we sacrifice things we want most for what we want now, which always leads to bondage and misery.

He said happiness and blessings from God come the other way around as we learn to sacrifice what we want now for what we want most. It seems pretty simple when it's written out like this but it's not always easy to put into practice. What we want now usually has more to do with our physical appetites but what we want most usually has more to do with the eternal and spiritual matters. It takes practicing meekness, humility, and living the first commandment -having no other God's before our Father in Heaven.

Elder Cornish pointed out that one of the most common false God's worshiped in today's world is the god of "self" selfishness or self-centeredness. He said that the biggest obstacle in our way of honoring the 4th commandment (keeping the Sabbath day) is often our breaking of the 1st (worshiping other gods).

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It was a wonderful Stake Conference!! Of course, there was so much more shared than I have here but these were the parts that really stuck with me... and I just wanted to write them down somewhere so I wouldn't forget. :)