Purest Love, Strongest Love

It's like all the fairy tale stories about finding true love. True love can overcome any evils that head your way... or can it?

Life is not a fairy tale; there is no happily ever unless you and your partner are able to endure all of your trials well and earn the right to exaltation after resurrection day. Most marriages are based on the human concept of "true love", but so many of those marriages have ended in divorce and abandonment. So what kind of love really can overcome all?

The true love of Christ is the purest and strongest form of love. This love helped him to conquer the unconquerable - death itself. Furthermore, because He loved us so much, He taught us to emulate His example in every aspect of our lives. He believes that we can love as He loves us if we put our focus on Him.

Forgive my bluntness, but the seeds of evil dwell in almost every home. "He that hath the Spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention..." (3 Nephi 11:29). Satan has deceived so many of us into believing that we can still be angry at our families, and as long as they keep the big commandments, we will be fine. "Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, [be angry with your spouse and children]; there is no harm in this.... and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God." (2 Nephi 28:8)

Satan tempts us to anger by promising a quick or even immediate reaction when we try to control others. Fighting, manipulating, and degrading others makes us feel powerful, and yet, this strategy only ends with endless retaliation and pits a man against his wife or vice versa. 

God, on the other hand, encourages us to be grateful for what we have, to treasure our family time, and basically to "be still and know that I am God" (Psalms 46:10). A friend of mine said, "the better solution [for family conflict] ALWAYS seem[s] to be the one that [takes] longer to say, to show, or to understand." 

Charity to our fellow-men requires seeing through Christ's eyes, right? But Jesus never rushed past anyone or spoke harshly in order to offend or to force compliance. When he saw a person, even somebody who was attacking, accusing, or physically maiming him, he took the time to see them for who they really were. He knew that his executioners were all hurting inside, confused by his words and his teachings, and even in his moments of sheer agony and as he lost strength to endure the weight of the world on his shoulders, he was able to forgive them. 

In short, it's time to change our views of the world. If Christ had a camera, the portraits he'd take of us would show a panorama view of the landscape of our personality: our joys, our sorrows, and our potential. Our mortal cameras are too often zoomed as close to the object as possible, the lens is smudged, and all we can see are imperfections. 



It's time to take the beam out of our own eyes, try to see our problems through our partner's eyes, and eventually, see the whole big picture that Christ was able to see from the beginning. When we allow HIS "true love" to proliferate through our families, we will have the purest and strongest love to hold our family together through whatever life may throw at us.