Love, Compassion, and Giving

Dear Reader,  

One of my observations from living today is that we must navigate a field of distractions.  Some admittedly are pleasurable and provide a certain degree of value.  Still others are merely ego centered pleasures based in a material rich world. 

For me, it is a constant battle among Competing forces.   Those forces that allow me to be complacent with life's order and those challenging me to become involved with shaping a greater loving, compassionate and giving world. 

I offer thoughts from writers I admire: 

"What we give to others, we give to ourselves. What we withhold from others, we withhold from ourselves."  — Marianne Williamson 

"You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips." — Oliver Goldsmith 

These two statements point toward a profound spiritual truth: the greatest sermon is not spoken—it is lived. 

I am not left alone with these two thinkers.  Throughout scripture, God consistently invites His children to become people of love, compassion, and generosity.  

The Savior's ministry was not defined primarily by His words, remarkable as they were. Rather, it was defined by His life. He touched the leper, comforted the grieving, fed the hungry, forgave the sinner, and welcomed the outcast. 

His life was His sermon. 

I am supported further by Book of Mormon:  "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."  — Mosiah 2:17 

Compassion is not merely social virtue; it is spiritual practice. President Thomas S. Monson often taught:  "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." 

His counsel reminds us that discipleship is measured not by efficiency, accomplishment, or even knowledge, but by our capacity to love. 

Charity is more than generosity. It is the pure love of Christ—seeing others as God sees them and responding in love. As the Apostle Paul wrote, "faith, hope, and charity abide, but the greatest of these is charity." 

This idea echoes throughout history.   

Mahatma Gandhi observed: "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."  

The Dalai Lama taught: "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."  

Albert Einstein concluded: "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." 

Morman: "But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."  -- Maroni 7:47 

Though these voices come from different traditions, they point toward a common truth: we flourish when we move beyond ourselves.   

When we overcome our protective fear and reprioritize ourselves, there emerges abundance. Let us recall, Christ multiplied loaves and fishes. He turned water into wine. He offered grace without measure. 

In short, the kingdom of God operates according to a paradox: what we give away often becomes what we most deeply possess. 

When we give love, our capacity for love expands. 

When we extend mercy, we experience mercy. 

When we offer forgiveness, we discover freedom. 

When we comfort another, we ourselves are comforted. 

The Savior declared: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it." — Matthew 16:25  

This is not a call to self-neglect. It is an invitation to transcend self-centeredness and enter into the joy of Christlike living.  

Perhaps the question for each of us today is simple: What sermon am I preaching with my life? 

Do people encounter more patience because of me? 

More hope because of me? 

More kindness because of me? 

More evidence that God loves them because of me? 

The world does not need more arguments about faith nearly as much as it needs living examples of faith. 

Every smile, every encouraging word, every act of forgiveness, every expression of compassion becomes a small sermon preached without a pulpit. 

May we become disciples whose lives proclaim the Gospel more loudly than our words. 

May we learn to love as Christ loved. 

May we give as Christ gave. 

May we discover that in blessing others, we ourselves are blessed. 

And may our lives become a sermon of love, compassion, and giving.   

Amen. 

  🙏🧘‍♂️💕🤗☮️