Love and Commandments talk - Jamie

I was trying to think of a holiday themed way to introduce myself and my family. The only way I can logically explain who I am and what my family support looks like is to tell you about the gift giving we are doing this year. There are my parents and six siblings so we divided up the names in terms of families for gift giving. So I am giving a gift to my brother Justin’s family. He is in Iraq and his Spanish wife and daughter are in Spain during his deployment so I mailed presents to Iraq and Spain yesterday. My other brother Eric lives in Arizona and his family is giving presents to my sister Mindy’s who is married to an English/French/African and they live in Bristol, England. Mindy’s family is giving presents to my parents who live in the Solvang of California. Then because everyone else has to pay shipping prices my two sisters Niki and Crit who live in DC are giving to each other, although Crit will be in Africa doing HIV/AIDS prevention work for Christmas. Since I am the only one livng in California I will celebrate Christmas with my parents. This will be the second Christmas in almost 10 years at my parents house so I am excited to go there.
My family has been spread around for years and so my good friends have become my surrogate family. I had wonderful friends who have been a consistent support and guidance to me. Especially they have been examples of to ways to love that are different than the way I was raised. I love my family but because they and my friends are spread around the world we use technology to skype and text and email to keep in contact.

I adore being apart of this ward family.

I had a great time at the Ward Christmas party last night and I plan to use my participation in the event as an excuse for not preparing my talk. I didn’t have time to fully study the scripture John 14:15 “If you Love me Keep my commandments” so I asked people at the party to help me. First, I didn’t ask the bishopric because they are so busy with other aspects of hosting a party but I do consider them wise men. So in the spirit of the holidays I have brought the three wise men on the stand some presents. First, the bishop always has wise counsel that is point each of us back to the light of Christ and so I brought him a candle to symbolize that light. Second, Simmons was roving around the room to talk to people and be helpful in whatever capacity and his gifts were sweet and priceless so I brought him some chocolate coins. For Wakeham…well he didn’t show so he gets a lump of coal.

In the bishops wise and in touch way he asked that I speak on If you Love Me keep my commandments. As I said I didn’t have time to prepare for the talk, but I do have good people who helped me and then I’ve added a couple of my own thoughts. At the ward Christmas party I saw a few people who asked how I was and I said I’m great but not at all working on my talk for tomorrow and they gave me some good advice.


Jake Harold said I should talk about the first time I ever decided to show my love to Christ and keep his commandments. He suggested I talk about my baptism day. I was baptized three months after I turned 8 during a ward baptism ceremony. There were 4 other girls being baptized and I remember feeling excited and loved. My Dad baptized me and my family and friends were there to watch. I also felt a feeling of renewal. I was literally renewed by the act of baptism and also physically renewed because my fingernail on my right hand had been smashed by my older sister (the one who know lives in England) and it had turned purple and dead for about a month. Then on the morning of my baptism the fingernail fell off and I had a distinct impression that it was a sign that I was about to become fully a new person without the blemish of a broken nail, nor the bad feeling towards my sister. I must have felt like the saints in Mosiah 18:9. I could literally clap my hands and have the desires of my heart filled by following Christ’s commandments.

Later at the party I saw Mindy Pierce and told her I hadn’t thought of my talk yet. She said she would pray for me and think about the topic. After the party I had a voicemail from Mindy with great topics and then she went the extra mile and called me to talk personally about her intimate thoughts on the topic. She told me what it was like to be a mom and to have the unconditional love for her children and to want them to follow the commandments. She related her person scripture study in John 17 during the Great Intercessory prayer. In that prayer the Lord knows he is leaving the earth and he wants his disciples to know he loved them, he had taught them and he was worried that they would not know how to follow his commandments with him there to guide them. Mindy said this is her greatest desire as a parent, to teach her children to follow the commandments because of the great love and joy that can be found in a life of righteousness. Mindy’s words were sweet to hear because I know of her kind heart and her desire to be joyful. It is the same as John 17: 13…that we might have joy which is love.


Mindy also reminded me of Bishop Lang’s wise counsel: If you want to be fully happy keep the commandments fully. If you want to be kind of happy then kind of keep the commandments

As I ran around mailing presents and being santa’s helper for the ward Christmas party I randomly saw a couple from our ward in the Albertson’s parking lot. Ralph and Julie Tuckfield were walking back to their car with their groceries and I saw an example of the act of love. When they got to the car Ralph was on the passenger side of the car to open the door for his wife. He did not know anyone was watching but he was showing a pure form of love. He was following the great commandment in if you love me…keep my commandments and love one another. It is as if Ralph was following the commandment without the Lord or anyone right there to make sure he did so. He was exemplifying the apostle John in 2nd John when John rejoices because of the actions of the elect lady. In 2nd John 1:4-6. I believe Ralph was showing his love to his wife and the lord through the action of service.

As part of my studies I referred to the book The Five Love Languages to explore the kind of love we can show each other. I have deduced that my parents expressed their love to me through Acts of Service and thus it became my primary love language. As an explanation, my parents ran a foster home and did the best they could to enrich the lives of every child they cared for. Now I see that their language of love to me was to give service in the community and in the church to give of themselves to the world as an example of being a light for Christ as they kept his commandments. My understanding of them has grown as I read this book which outlines five languages of love that we use to communicate with those we love. The languages are: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service and Physical Touch. The theory is that we have a primary language, usually the one we are raised with and then we can learn secondary languages to meet the love needs of others important to us. This theory because ingrained in my own relationship with Christ during the Relief Society lesson last week. Kristin McKlusky was teaching about the gifts of Christ and I was listening although I was trying to rationalize WHY the Lord would give us the ultimate sacrifice of the atonement. The gift seemed too large, too much to just freely give. And then the epiphany came that one of the Lord’s love languages was Acts of Service as well as giving gifts. Then I could personalize the atonement to me because my love language is acts of service and now I have a deeper understanding and relationship with the atonement because I understand the process of giving love through gifts of ourselves. That new knowledge is dear to my heart because I truly love the Lord who is my Savior and my Redeemer not because of the books that I’ve read throughout the years to study the act of the atonement, but now I have a stronger testimony because I feel that the Lord and I can communicate on a similar plane.
My father is a very logical man who loved his profession in the aerospace field. He taught through deductive reasoning similar to geometry’s postulates and If/Then statements. As a consequence I too look at patterns in life to find explanations for life’s events. As an If/Then statement the Lord’s commandment to love and follow him becomes a postulate. The scripture in John 14:15 says, “If you love me, keep my commandments” and it is quickly followed with the event that you will enjoy which is the comforter, the spirit of truth. This equation is like the mathematical equations of the world which can be proven by the absolute of numbers. If you love Him, then keep His commandments and He will give you the spirit to abide with you forever.

Finally, in my search to get guidance on my talk while doing all the other chores in my life I talked to my wise roommate Liz. She was studying eternal truths of the gospel and she reminded me of Joseph Smith’s teaching that the knowledge that you seek from the Lord, the more he is willing to give you. And as a result the more knowledge you have the more power you have against Satan. In Romans 8 the law of intercession is detailed. Romans 8:35-39.

My life has been enriched by the people of this ward and my family and my friends who have been examples of Christ’s teachings. I have a firm belief in the principles and teachings of the Lord and his restored church on the earth today. I know that the Prophet, even Thomas S. Monson receives teachings directly from the Lord to guide the Saints through today’s times. The counsel to Love our Lord and keep His commandments is eternal and I strive to live the commandment more fully in my own life.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Reedemer, Amen.