The Purpose of Relief Society - Faith, Hope and Charity

1.     EXERCISE CHARITY

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

I would ask us to remember it is by divine design that not all the voices in God’s choir are the same. It takes variety—sopranos and altos, baritones and basses—to make rich music. When we disparage our uniqueness or try to conform to fictitious stereotypes—stereotypes driven by an insatiable consumer culture and idealized beyond any possible realization by social media—we lose the richness of tone and timbre that God intended when He created a world of diversity.

Elder Marvin J. Ashton:

Real charity is not something you give away; it is something that you acquire and make a part of yourself. And when the virtue of charity becomes implanted in your heart, you are never the same again.

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 being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us.

If we could look into each other’s hearts and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care.

Sister Bonnie D. Parkin:

In exercising charity, we come to know a sister’s heart. When we know a sister’s heart, we are different. We won’t judge her. We will simply love her. 

2.     PROVIDE HOPE

Elder Kim B. Clark:

We do not have to be perfect, but we need to be good and getting better. 

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:

The great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don’t always succeed.

President Boyd K. Packer: Some worry endlessly over missions that were missed, or marriages that did not turn out, or babies that did not arrive, or children that seem lost, or dreams unfulfilled, or because age limits what they can do. I do not think it pleases the Lord when we worry because we think we never do enough or that what we do is never good enough.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Laborers in the Vineyard:

I wish to speak of the Savior’s parable in which a householder “went out early in the morning to hire labourers.” After employing the first group at 6:00 in the morning, he returned at 9:00 a.m., at 12:00 noon, and at 3:00 in the afternoon, hiring more workers as the urgency of the harvest increased. The scripture says he came back a final time, “about the eleventh hour” (approximately 5:00 p.m.), and hired a concluding number. Then just an hour later, all the workers gathered to receive their day’s wage. Surprisingly, all received the same wage in spite of the different hours of labor.

This parable—like all parables—is not really about laborers or wages any more than the others are about sheep and goats. This is a story about God’s goodness, His patience and forgiveness, and the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a story about generosity and compassion. It is a story about grace.

However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many talents you think you don’t have, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love.

3.     INCREASE FAITH – Prophetic Promises

President Ezra Taft Benson:

“Make reading in the Book of Mormon a few minutes each day a lifelong practice.”

There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book:

·         You will find greater power to resist temptation.

·         You will find the power to avoid deception.

·         You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path.

President Hinckley:  

I promise you [if you] read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives:

1.      An added measure of the Spirit

2.      A strengthened resolution to obey

3.      A stronger testimony of Jesus

President Monson:

I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to:

·         Hear the voice of the Spirit

·         To resist temptation

·         To overcome doubt and fear

·         To receive heaven’s help in our lives. 

Elder Bednar: I personally do not know of a principle more

·         central,

·         important,

·         or essential

to spiritual learning than the principle of acting as agents and not being acted upon as objects.