My husband's dream has always been to teach the scriptures to the youth all day just like Anthony, but that would mean we would have to move back to Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, or any state out west where they have seminary during normal school hours. There are limited states out west in which they have full time seminary teachers. Here on the east coast we have early morning seminary which means that the youth here wake up early to have class from 5:30-6:15 and then be ready for school by 7:30a.m. Now that's sincere commitment and devotion for a youth!
Nontheless I really enjoyed meeting Anthony last Saturday at the Time out for Women conference. He is a great teacher, and has even spoken at EFY, and Education week conferences as well as writing several books.
Mind you he was the only male at this TOFW conference, and so to break the ice he mentioned an experience while dining out with Mercy River and two of the other speakers at a local Applebee's in Harrisburg. You can imagine the look on their faces when their server asked them where they were from. When he said "Utah" I'm sure the server was immediately thinking that those were his wives! We all laughed so hard!
For those of you who are not too familiar with our church we don't practice polygamy anymore! That was way back in the 1800's and if there are people who still practice polygamy...well, they certainly are not members from our church. Those are fundamentalists and a totally different kind of a latter day saint!
On this day his talk was on "the truth about charity". In the things that he said charity went way deeper than the definition we all know it to be which is "the pure love of Christ". He mentioned how there is absolutely nothing in the scriptures where it talks about service. Nothing. I found that very interesting, and was so eager to hear the rest of his talk.
He continues to say, "Charity is not about service. Not at all. Not once in the scriptures will you find charity used in reference to service towards others. At least not in that context. It's always used in a more deeper spiritual level", and I agree. I guess I have to read my scriptures more carefully when I read about charity.
He continues to talk about finding deeper solutions on how to develop charity and to find ways in helping those that may struggle with this. People might look at charity in a sense which is not as deep as we should look at it.
"Charity is not an action it's a condition." Wow. That's a deep statement. He used a lot of experiences in the scriptures as well. If you look in the Book of Mormon in Moroni, Chapter 7 it takes four verses to describe the concept of charity. That is how deep the concept of charity is. One scripture he quoted was: And charity 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 inequity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things hopeth all things, endureth all things. Loved it. I came home and reread that chapter several times, shared it with my family, and talked about the true meaning. Those seminary teachers certainly no their scriptures, and because they constantly study with the guidance of the holy ghost will look at it in a different context.
Most of us don't really understand what true charity is. We can deliver a meal to a sister who has just had a baby, or take funeral potatoes to a funeral service (these are Anthony's words), or feed the poor, and helping the needy, but that's not the fullness of it. He said to get that out of your mind!
Some of you may ask, "well how do we seek charity?" His answer was, "By seeking anything that invites the holy ghost into our lives. After all...HE IS THE DELIVERER OF GOD'S LIFE".
One question he asked was, "When was the last time you did something in which you felt God's spirit influence you?" He then said whatever it was your were doing at that moment to KEEP DOING IT, and that is charity!
There are many times in which I have felt the love in my heart from the Lord to do something good. There have been days where I have felt prompted to do something good, and I have listened to that voice and did it! After I have done those things the joy that I feel is indescribable! After reading and discussing the true meaning of charity I realized that I have not yet mastered it. I am not perfect, but will continue to strive hard to live like it is written in the scriptures. I know what it means to serve, and to be a friend to someone who I just met in my neighborhood or in the church, but am going to continue in finding solutions to better my way of being charitable.
The last part of his talk he said, and I love this, "When we partake of the sacrament at church, and literally partake of God's love with a lot of meaning...we are seeking charity". That statement spoke out loud to me, and I felt the spirit so strong. I love attending my meetings, and reasons I come to church are to be strengthened, and to remember. To remember the covenant's I made at baptism, and to feel of His love.
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