Loving other people opens our hearts not only to joy but also to pain. I think we all learn this lesson multiple times in life. I’ve learned it when being rejected by a fiancée, when seeing people I care about turn away from the Church of Jesus Christ, when family members are insensitive or deliberately distant, when I’ve given something of myself or something else I value but the gift was rejected, and in many smaller cases. Prophets feel this pain for the sorrow of the world.
Does infinite love mean being potentially infinitely hurt? The Savior loves us and certainly has felt
pain for us. He felt infinite pain
during His infinite Atonement for us; perhaps the depth of that pain was really
possible because of His infinite love for us.
Last thoughts for now:
I don’t think I have particularly deep conclusions about
this, but I think that as we grow in love, we also, in a sense, grow in our capacity
to be hurt. Yet, I think that as we grow
in love and thus become more like God the Father and Jesus Christ, we also gain
more of an eternal perspective that helps frame that pain in the context of
eternity. God wouldn’t have given us His
plan if the joy wasn’t worth all the pain.
I expect to be hurt at times, but it’s okay.
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