Charity

I've been thinking a lot about charity lately. I've always known that charity is the pure love of Christ, but I didn't really know what that meant. I've listened to many people try to define charity or list things that we should be doing if we have charity. When I was a missionary, I read the very best description of charity I'd ever heard. It was like an epiphany! I finally grasped what charity is and it has changed my life. This was said in 1992 by Elder Marvin J. Ashton:


"Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other."

This is Christlike love. Charity is not just how we outwardly treat someone, it is believing that everyone is good and is just doing their best. I think it is an exceptionally rare occasion that a person will intentionally hurt another's feelings or let his/her loved one's down. I've been able to meet all kinds of people from all over the world, literally, and I've learned that people are all the same. We're all just doing the best we can to get through life with as few scratches as possible. We're all searching for a sense of belonging, happiness and inner peace. Charity is sincere encouragement and interest in another's successes.

In the five years since I first read this thought by Elder Ashton, I've tried to think of it often and evaluate my behavior, but more importantly my feelings toward others. I'm still trying to be like Jesus by treating others the way He would. It was charity, this pure love of Christ, that let the Savior say while He was on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." I'm grateful to be able to say, "I'm sorry." I know I need to say it more often, most especially to my husband. I guess with this post, my purpose was to share Elder Ashton's definition of charity with you, in the hopes that you'll be able to take as much from it as I have, and let's all be a bit more easy to forgive and forget. God bless you all.