My talk :)

So I am speaking tomorrow in Sacrament meeting and I had been struggling with the talk all week. I generally just make up an outline and give my talk from that, but it wasn't working. I decided to just start writing and see where that got me. All the pieces started falling into place and before you know it, I had a whole talk written. It's not perfect, and it's not completely cohesive and it doesn't make total sense (it's kinda choppy), but after how much I've worked on it, I'm proud of it and I believe that it says what I want it to say (more or less). So, here you have it: the first ever completely written out Sacrament meeting talk by Amanda McClellan. Enjoy!

~Manda

In the recent October Conference President Uchtdorf spoke on the love of God. He was not the only one to speak on love; Elder Bednar, when he mentioned expressing and showing love, Elder Oaks, speaking on love vs. law, President Eyring, mentioning how love is our motivation to do what is right, and President Monson, as he talked about how we must love and serve one another, all mentioned love in their talks. I remember listening to and attending conference and feeling as though the theme of it was love. I was excited to be given President Uchtdorf’s talk as a topic because he seemed to focus most on my personal theme of the October 2009 conference, love. When the Savior was asked which commandment was the greatest he responded saying that it was loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind. The title of President Uchtdorf’s talk, “the love of God”, can be seen in different ways: our love for him, and his love for us.

Before we are able to love God we should know the reasoning behind it. President Uchtdorf explained why we need to love God like this:

“God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God!

For what we love determines what we seek.

What we seek determines what we think and do.

What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become.”

He explained that “love has been the source of both the highest bliss and the heaviest burdens. At the heart of misery…, you will find the love of wrong things. And at the heart of joy, you will find the love of good things. And the greatest of all good things is God.” He later quoted 1 John 4:19 “We love him because he first loved us.”

After recognizing why we need to love God we must find out how we should go about doing that. In John 14:15 we read the Saviors declaration that if we love the Lord we must keep his commandments to show it. This statement can be much easier said than done. Many people tend to complicate the commandments believing that if it is a good idea that has worked for one person, it should then be what is expected of all. After a while these “good ideas” cause eternal principles to be lost. The Savior recognized this same problem in his time and simplified all the “shoulds” and “should nots” with one small word: love. Focusing on loving God and loving out neighbors allows us to be able to become true disciples of God and therefore show that we love him.

God’s love is perfect, it is holy, pure, indescribable, and more, it is infinite. He loves us completely even though we are incomplete. He does not care about where we live, how we look, the amount of money we may or may not have. God loves those of us who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sad, and broken, as well as those of us who are proud, selfish, arrogant, and wicked. God’s love for us allows all of us, regardless of our current state, to hope. It doesn’t matter where we are in life, God has made it possible that the closer we are to him, the closer he will be to us.

Knowing that God loves us is not always enough. Because we are only human we need proof. God reaches out to us constantly, so the proof that we want can be obtained simply by seeking it. Our Heavenly Father speaks to us everywhere. He speaks to us through scripture, talks given at General Conference, the temples, our Church meetings, the hymns. He also speaks to us through nature, our interaction with others, and even through things as simple as laughter.

I have seen God’s love through many things in my life, but as I was preparing this talk there were specific instances that stuck out in my mind. I am a vocalist studying at UVU and I have a great love for art and art history. I have learned through my studies that God can speak to us through composers, music we listen to, and performances that we are able to participate in. Music seems to have been one of the great ways that God has shown his love to his children since the beginning of time. I have felt God’s love while listening to and singing all different kinds of music. I have also felt God’s love while learning about and observing different pieces of art. I had the opportunity to go to the MoMA in New York and whether or not it was because God knew I loved it, or because I recognized his love of the art or the love he had for the artists that created it, I felt God’s love for me as I went from room to room, from floor to floor, from piece to piece. I know God loves me for countless reasons, but he shows me through, among other things, music and art.

We need to not only listen but to be able to more acutely recognize his love, we must increase our love for him. In 1 John 4:8 we learn that “God is love.” This means that the closer we are to God the more we are able to love. God seems distant at times, but in Jeremiah 29:13 it tells us “Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

Seeking God with all our hearts means that we must do more than just offering a quick prayer or occasionally allowing him into our lives. We need to align our thoughts and actions with God’s word. We must keep his commandments, not begrudgingly, but lovingly. He is pure and holy and to increase our love for him we must be pure and holy as well.

We will stumble at times, but we must not let that bring us down. The first step in aligning ourselves with God is to try. President Uchtdorf said this on trying:

“We must try to believe. Try to learn of God: read the scriptures; study the words of His latter-day prophets; choose to listen to the Father, and do the things He asks of us. Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible—and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of you.”

As members of the Church we are held in a certain light among those who are not members of our church. President Uchtdorf said,

“Most people think of [members of the Church] as honest, helpful, and hardworking. Some have images of clean-cut missionaries, loving families, and friendly neighbors who don’t smoke or drink. We might also be known as a people who attend church every Sunday for three hours, in a place where everyone is a brother or a sister, where the children sing songs about streams that talk, trees that produce popcorn, and children who want to become sunbeams.

“Brothers and sisters, of all the things we want to be known for, are there attributes above all others that should define us as members of His Church, even as disciples of Jesus Christ?

…

“Let us be known as a people who love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and who love our neighbor as ourselves. When we understand and practice these two great commandments in our families, in our wards and branches, in our nations, and in our daily lives, we will begin to understand what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus the Christ.”

I once had a stake president who said that the plan of happiness is just a big love story. I believe that is true, not only in the sense that we have been sent here to ultimately find our eternal companion, but we are here to love. We have been commanded to love God, our fellow man, and ourselves.

I love God and I have felt his love throughout my life. I know that if I allow God in my life, if I study my scriptures more, visit the temple more often, align my ways with his that my capacity to love him and to feel his love will increase. [Testimony]