With Valentine’s Day right around
the corner love is in the air. I’ve been thinking a lot about what this four
letter word means and I’ve learned a lot about it especially this past week. If
you think this is going to be a sappy post about my relationship, keep
scrolling. This is going to be more focused on the Savior and His perfect love
for us.
I listened to a talk this week be
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, one of the members of the quorum of the twelve
apostles. Emotionally at the beginning of his talk he expressed,
“Brothers and sisters, do you have any idea—do
you have any notion or inkling whatsoever—of how much we love you?... Here you are, there you are, hour after hour, in
your Sunday best, being your best. You sing and you pray. You listen and you believe.
You are the miracle of this Church. And we love you.”
(Here’s the link to the talk)
We as human’s sometimes just need to
feel those feelings of love and comfort. I remember when Elder Holland
started his talk this way tears came into my eyes. For some reason during that
moment those were the exact words my soul needed to hear. I knew and felt the
love the Prophet and His apostles have for us. There is a love that is constant, a love we never need to worry will disappear. It is the love of our Father in Heaven and His Only Begotten, Jesus Christ.
As I studied the Atonement of Jesus Christ
specifically this week I learned about the love the Father has for us.
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud
voice saying; Eli Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say my God my God why hast
thou forsaken me?”
Why did Christ
endure, when all odds were against Him?
Why did He drink of the
bitter cup and fight until the very end? Because of His undeniable love for us.
For Christ so loved us.
This moment, as the Father watched
His son suffer in great agony, had to be one of the hardest moments, if not the
hardest moment of His life. To hear the Savior of the World call out "Abba"...daddy, as great drops of blood fell from every pore had to have pained the
Father’s heart in ways we cannot even begin to imagine. Why did the Father
leave the Son, alone, in the hardest moment? How could He watch this occur? Because of His undeniable love for
us. Because He knew how vital this ultimate act of love would be to each of us.
For God so loved us.
As I read in 3 Nephi and in Matthew,
I learned about the love the Savior has for us.
As resurrected Lord He ministers
among the people of the Americas. With wet eyes and humble hearts the people
stand in the presence of the Savior. The Savior beckons them to come unto Him.
“Arise and come forth
unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel
the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am
the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the
sins of the world.
And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and
thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his
hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they
had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands,
and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was
written by the prophets, that should come.”
I look forward to the day when we
will get to stand before the Savior’s face and feel the very scars in His hands
that He has acquired for us.
I know that, “We love Him because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
Our Savior’s love is real. It is
tangible. Elder Hales asked the question “if we love the Savior will we hurt
less?” I know that as we draw near unto Jesus Christ, the only Begotten of the
Father, the Comforter and Redeemer of the World, we will find His hands were
already wrapped so tightly around us. We will indefinitely hurt less when we
rely on His love to carry us. I promise you that His love is unfailing. It will
always be there. No matter how many steps we may feel we have taken away from
Him, His hand is “outstretched still.”
I testify that arguably in the hardest moment
of the Savior’s life when He was left alone suffering in the Garden of
Gethsemane the Father was probably closer than ever, but the Savior had to
experience what it was like to be alone. Because He endured that, we will NEVER
EVER have to.
“For God so loved the
world that He gave His Only Begotten Son.” For God so loved you…for God so
loved me. How incredible, how beautiful, how powerful, and abiding the
precious love of the Father and Son are to me.
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