The One

          The Gospel is about individuals.  A person can study the scriptures all they want, learn all the doctrines and deep mysteries of the kingdom, know all the ingoings and outgoings and intricacies of how the Church operates, memorize everything there is to know about salvation, but unless they experience it in the life of another person, they will never truly understand.  The Gospel has always fundamentally been about the binding of one soul to another.  Before the world was, God bound himself to each of us with links of love that cannot end.  As sons of God, as daughters of God, we bind ourselves to each other in a way that differs in degree but not in kind.  The ability to love is one evidence that we are like Him. 

          Relationships make us happy.  They give us power to influence others for good.  They motivate us to do more and become more than we would on our own.  They remind us of what we are striving for.

          President Packer told a story once about a man who died pushing his daughter out of the way of an oncoming car.  At the funeral a few people criticized the man for leaving his wife and other children without a provider, a husband and father.  They thought he wasn't thinking straight, that he was taking too big of a risk.  President Packer said that he felt sorry for those that said that because they didn't really understand love.

          Do you?

          Love means not holding back anything.  It means never giving in, never giving up, never surrenders.  It has no bounds.  It is the higher law that justifies and sanctifies.  Understanding love is necessary to understand why Nephi killed Laban, why Abraham offered Isaac, why the sons of Mosiah went on a mission to the Lamanites.  The things love drives you to do pierces some imaginary veil between this world and things that can't possibly be explained.  It never faileth.

          It is.  The essence.  Of Godhood.

          It comes from the presence of God and fills the immensity of space.  It is the law by which all things are governed.  It is the life and light and hope of the world.  Love is what drinks the bitter cup and does not shrink.  It is what bends and breaks the rules.  It is what sets us free.  It chooses the right when no one else does.  It shines like a blazing sun when all the world is clothed in blackness.  It is life, hope, and salvation.

          In short, if you don't know love, then you don't understand anything about anything.

          On the flip side, if you understand love, you understand everything about everything.

          When you love an individual person, it suddenly doesn't matter how many other people you've helped.  It doesn't matter how much you have to sacrifice to help them.  It doesn't even matter what opposition you have to go through to get there.  You will never ever, ever, ever give up.  Your bond with them is stronger than the veil.  It is stronger than the cords of death.  Organizations in the world create relationships as a means to an end, but with God the other person is the end.  It is the end without an end.  It is the deepest part of who we are.

What does your love drive you to do?