Lessons for the past 2 weeks!!

Sorry I didn't get Carol's lesson on here before I headed off to have hip surgery.  But here it is along with Kathy's for this past week.  Both excellent lessons and we missed you if you weren't there.  Actually, I hope I was missed on Sunday!!  Couldn't make it but wished I would have!!!   (It's always nice to be MISSED!!)

Carol--Loving others and Living with Differences--November Ensign, Dallin H. Oaks, pg. 25.
Great question....Why is it so difficult to have Christlike love for one another?
I think this is something to ponder and really think about. 
Elder Oaks suggests that it's hard because we must live among those who do not share our beliefs and values and covenant obligations.  We are to live IN the world but not be OF the world. 
Easy to Say...Hard to DO!!
The Savior has commanded us many times--"For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.  Behold, this is...my doctrine, that such things should be done away." (3 Nephi 11:28-30.
 He has asked ALL of us to eliminate contention our of our lives!!!
We must never compromise our standards and beliefs.  We must not surrender our positions or our values.  There is no middle ground in the contest between truth and error.  We need to be firm in the truth.
Elder Oaks states:  We as Latter Day Saints should love all people, be good listeners, and show concern for others sincere beliefs.  Though we may disagree, we should not be disagreeable.
We need to teach out children, even encourage them to be kind to everyone.  They are such great examples of what we really should act like.  They are some of our best missionaries.  Strong teachings in the home will encourage them to be good people and good missionaries. 
Also remember that in families, there will inevitably be differences.  We can show, if we follow the Savior's example, loving-kindness and still be firm in the truth.
Good luck out there!!!  This is a great talk and Carol did a great job as usual!!!  Thanks you from all of us sisters.

As I mentioned before...I wasn't there on Sunday so when I talked to Kathy she said she didn't have time to read a couple of quotes that she really wanted to.  So here they are.

"Love of God, love of our fellow beings, and keeping the commandments are three interdependent things in the sense that we cannot claim to do one of them without also doing the other two; and when we raise our level of performance in one area, it automatically helps us to do better in the other two. 
"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous. 
Sometimes it seems grievous to try to live the commandments.  But if we really trust that God would not ask us to live any commandment that would not ultimately bring complete joy, would we not then find joy even in the difficult struggle to obey?  Thus his commandments, though no easy, would not be grievous.  However, it seems that many times we lose sight of the fact that the commandments are guides to lead us to joy.  If it grieves me to keep one of God's commandments, then I am not trusting him.

"Now, the atonement of the Christ is the most basic and fundamental doctrine of the gospel, and it is the least understood of all our revealed truths.  Many of us have a superficial knowledge and rely upon the Lord and His goodness to see us through the trials and perils of life.  But if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived."
Thank you Kathy for a great lesson.  Keeping the commandments is not easy but so worth it!!!  We just have to keep an eternal perspective!!!