Grateful Fast Sunday XIX

This Fast Sunday, as always, I am grateful for many things. Normally, I make a list and express thanks for a few of the many things that bless my life. This month I am going to do things a little bit different. This month I had an interesting experience for which I am very grateful. It is rather personal but I think I will share it anyway. I hope everyone that reads it will take it in the spirit was written – a testimony that God does answer prayers.

In my church, members can receive something that is called a patriarchal blessing. It is explained this way on lds.org “Patriarchal blessings are given to worthy members of the Church by ordained patriarchs. Patriarchal blessings include a declaration of a person's lineage in the house of Israel and contain personal counsel from the Lord. As a person studies his or her patriarchal blessing and follows the counsel it contains, it will provide guidance, comfort, and protection.” It is really a beautiful experience. I received mine a few months after I turned sixteen. I have referred to it often and have found different counsel each time depending on what is going on in my life. Sometimes it gives me hope, sometimes encouragement and sometimes the desire to do better. I have always thought that it contains things that God wants me to know but would not have otherwise. A little bit like hints to help figure out exactly the plan God has for me in this life. There has always been one thing that has puzzled me, however. In the blessing, it says that I have the talent to be charitable. I have to say honestly that that is the one part I have had a hard time believing. I have often read the scriptural accounts for charity and not felt like I really had any of those traits – me longsuffering, without envy, not seeking my own? I don’t think so. I had a dilemma. I believed in the blessing but I could not see how that particular part applied to my life. I have spent years (literally) praying for insight. None came. That is until a few Sundays ago. I was sitting in church listening to the speaker. It was a nice talk on charity. I always try to listen extra hard on the charity talks because of my blessing. Normally, I don’t ever receive any particularly ground-breaking personal revelation. This time in-between the kids fighting, the Portuguese and my exhaustion, I had an incredible moment of clarity. After all of these years my prayers were answered! The speaker shared the following quote from Marvin J. Ashton, a deceased member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles:

“Charity is, perhaps, in many ways a misunderstood word. We often equate charity with visiting the sick, taking in casseroles to those in need, or sharing our excess with those who are less fortunate. But really, true charity is much, much more.

Real charity is not something you give away; it is something that you acquire and make a part of yourself. And when the virtue of charity becomes implanted in your heart, you are never the same again. It makes the thought of being a basher repulsive.

Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other.”

When I heard this definition of charity, I almost cried right there on the spot. For the first time in my life, I understood what the Lord was trying to tell me in my blessing and what he expected of me with this blessing. It took over twenty years but I finally understood. Therefore, this Fast Sunday I am extremely grateful that God does answer prayers, in His own time and when we are ready to receive them.