Charity

            What is charity? “Charity is “the pure love of Christ,” or “everlasting love” (Moroni 7:47;8:17) To have charity is to put off the natural man. Charity is seeing others the way Christ sees them and putting another’s needs before our own. In Moroni 7:45 it reads: “And charit suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in inquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believith all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things

So what does charity have to do with marriage? Marriage requires charity because chances are you married an imperfect person. It is also very likely that your spouse married an imperfect person as well. We all come to a marriage with flaws and character traits that may be potential irritants for our spouse. It is normal to become irritated with our spouse from time to time. As no one likes to feel annoyed how can we combat that feeling of annoyance at the one person we are supposed to love most in the world? Frist of all, Goddard warns in his book: Drawing Heaven into your Marriage, that “we will continue to be annoyed by our spouses unless we are humbled enough by our own limitations to call on heavenly grace” (121). This means that our spouse will never cease to annoy us in one way or another unless we humble ourselves and ask for Heavenly guidance to be more patient and loving to our companion. This requires an understanding that we ourselves are not perfect and also posses character traits that may bother our spouse.

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.”

-Moroni 7:48

            If we have charity towards our fellow men we are on our way towards become followers of Jesus Christ. By having charity, we think of others more than ourselves. By doing this we are broadening our horizons and following in Christ’s footsteps.  

 May we all strive to seek to have charity in our lives and in our marriages.