Broken

I've been thinking a lot about the phrase "I'm broken", these past few days. It's made me consider what it means to be broken, in all it's forms, and how that relates to the Gospel. After all, we are to strive for a broken heart and contrite spirit. 

So I ask myself, what does it mean to be broken? We can be broken in our heart, our mind, or our body. To be broken in mind refers to mental illness. In body refers to physical disability. But what about the heart?

We often hear the term "broken heart" when referring to the result of being dumped by a girl/boy friend. In this sense it means that the love of your life has been ripped from your heart, leaving only a hole.

In a very real sense, this is what The Lord is asking for when he says he wants us to have a broken heart. Only, that which gets ripped from our heart is anything that keeps us from Him. 

We are to Love God with all our heart, might, mind and strength, and then our neighbor as ourself. That love should pretty much consume all the faculties of our heart, leaving no room for worldly or non righteous desires. 

Often when we experience a spiritual broken heart, what happens is we suddenly realize that our other desires, weaknesses, pursuits and appetites are not bringing us peace. We have to realize that they are merely our little rebellious acts that keep us from God. We are broken as we make this realization, and rip them out of our hearts, leaving only a hole where they once were. Like a building burned down to its frame, we are humbled to the sole basic truth that we are children of god. 

This is truly what happens when we break a horse. The process of breaking a horse is one that replaces the horses will with that of the master. So it is with us. When we have a broken heart we view the Master's desires as more important than our desires. We obediently follow Him, instead of following our selfish and prideful whims and desires. We tame the inner beast.

Humility has been described as comparing ourselves to God, and desiring to be like Him.

Our contrite spirit tells us that our ways were wrong in the sight of god, and urges us to reconcile with Him. As we do so, the Grace from Christ's atonement literally fills us, not only repairing the hole in our heart, but lifting it to much heigher heights.

Top-Secret Superpower for a happy Marriage

Hey you! Yup, you, the newly married or newly engaged couple. I've got a little secret I'm going to let you in on about successful marriages. You see, there's a top secret superpower that much of today's world doesn't know about. Oh they think they know, but most of them just don't get it. 

Top-secret superpower of a happy Marriage: LOVE

I know what you're saying. We know what love is-we see it in the movies all the time. Love is when you feel so passionately toward another person that you can't resist attacking their mouth in hungry, soul-aching (and often slobbery) kisses.

But guess what? You're wrong. Don't feel bad, it's society's fault (we might add some of the blame to Satan's shoulders as well). That isn't love, it's lust. I know it starts with the same letter and all, but it just isn't the same thing. 

You see, Lust is Satan's counterfeit for Love. To define the differences as simply as I can, Lust is Selfish, but Love is Selfless.

Lust is concerned with me and I. It is a soul-aching need that we satisfy regardless of the needs of the other person. It is selfishly possessive of others, but loyal to none. Lust is an action word, but It doesn't focus on giving and lifting others up, but rather on taking and lifting our own self.

Love, on the other hand is concerned with service and caring for the other person. It is loyal and trustworthy. Love, too, is an action word. Because we love we act and do things for others. We care about their needs, feelings and cares and seek to ease, uplift and honor them. 

Jesus taught that the greatest two commandments are based on Love: Love God, and love your neighbor. Is it any wonder that Satan would try to replace love with his counterfeit?

Love is huge and can fill volumes of books and seminars and study, but it can be brought down to two focuses for strengthening your marriage. Interestingly they come from Jesus' two great commandments:

1) Love God with your whole soul

If we love God, we serve Him. We honor Him by our thoughts and deeds. We strive to do all He has asked of us, including keeping the commandments and magnifying our callings. We talk with Him often and cherish communication with Him. We don't let anything take priority in our lives, money, cars, sports, careers-for these become our idols. We strive to become a better person. We go to His House as often as we can and strive to align our heart and will with His.

2) Love your spouse as yourself

If we love our spouse, we serve them. We honor them by our thoughts and deeds. We strive to make their life as easy and joyful as possible. We talk with them often and cherish communication with them. We don't let anything but God take higher priority than them in our lives: money, cars, sports, careers-for these become our idols. We strive to become a better person-not because they nag us, but because we love them and want to offer to them our best self. We're less interested in being "right" and more focused on being kind. We go home and on dates as often as we can and strive to align our heart and will with theirs.

In truth, when God joined Adam and Eve together, he called them "Helpmeets". For each couple, that term literally means we will help our spouse "meet" (or come unto) God. That is your role, and it can only be accomplished as you, yourself, strives to come unto God. We're like an equalateral triangle, with husband and wife at bottom corners and God at the top. If one wishes to come closer to God, then you have to come closer to your spouse too.

So try the top-secret superpower today! It really is as simple as love.

The Commandment to Love

Ever since I was little, with rules and chores and laws imposed by parents, society and governments, I've been fascinated by Matthew's account of the cunning Pharisee who tried to test the Savior by asking Him which commandment was greatest. The savior put him to shame and answered as simply and clearly as he could: 1st Love God with all your heart, soul and mind. 2nd Love your neighbor as your self.

As a child I was very interested to find that all we have to do is obey two commandments. Could it really be that simple? I wondered. 

As I matured and my understanding of the gospel grew, I realized the truth: it is that simple, and that difficult.

You see, each of the commandments has it's root in those two commandments. For Example: 

•Don't steal - if you Love your neighbor then you won't steal from them. But if you express your gratitude to God for all you have, you won't have the desire to steal, either.

•Don't take the Lord's name in vain - of course if you love God you wouldn't do that. But if you loved your neighbor then you wouldn't be likely to blaspheme or use foul language around them either.

I've since come to realize that the reason to obey every commandment is built upon those two commandments. Of course Jesus taught this in his mortal ministry, "if ye love me, keep my commandments".  

John taught that if we love God, then we keep His commandments-and that since we love Him, the commandments are not grevious or hard to do (1 John 3:5)

Could it really be all about love? 

What about tithing? If we love God then it is easy to give back 10%. And if we love our neighbor, we want a place for them to worship-be it for our immediate neighbor or our neighbors in 3rd World Countries.

What about modesty? If we love God then we cherish this gift we call a body. We also seek to use it to glorify God, not draw attention to ourselves. If we love our neighbor, then we wouldn't want to impose our immodesty on anyone.

I could go on and on. 

So . . . . What? How does this help? Does this help? Does it change anything?

That's up to you. What does it mean to you that all the commandments are based on love? How does that change your attitude on all the rules, laws, commandments and principles? How important is love?

 It's all about love. Can you see why Moroni taught that we should all pray to God with all the energy of our soul to be filled with love? Why John taught that God is Love, and that we should be as he is? Is it any wonder that Satan has blinded the eyes of the people to believe that lust is love, and that selfishness is the way to happiness? He too knows that Love is the Answer, and he'll do anything he can to hide it.