To Love God

Yesterday in Priesthood Meeting we were studying Chapter 1 of the Ezra Taft Benson manual, The Great Commandment – Love the Lord. During our discussion we reviewed the following paragraphs:

To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is all-consuming and all-encompassing. It is no lukewarm endeavor. It is total commitment of our very being—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—to a love of the Lord.

The breadth, depth, and height of this love of God extend into every facet of one’s life. Our desires, be they spiritual or temporal, should be rooted in a love of the Lord. Our thoughts and affections should be centered on the Lord. “Let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord,” said Alma, “yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever” (Alma 37:36).

This really made me stop and think about my love for God. I thought I loved Him, but do I love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and into every facet of my life? No, I don’t, not really. I want to, but l realized something about my relationship with God: I know He’s there, and that He loves me, and His teachings are true – but He’s distant, and hard to read, and slow to answer. And so, I have not invested that much time and energy into the relationship, because I wasn't getting much out of it.

And then I realized that I am transferring the stories I tell myself about my earthly father on to God. And I give Him the same rote, obligatory, and distant respect that I show my dad. Maybe that is why I haven’t always been obedient to His commandments as I should have been.

I need to change that.

I didn't want my children to have the same kind of relationship with me that I had with my father. I made sure that I was available, and open, and quick to love physically and emotionally. I know I wasn't perfect – far from it – but I hope that my kids have learned to love God enough that will give them the desire to always want to be obedient to Him.