Introduction
Sisterhood is partly knowing who you are/where you came from, and partly the fellowship and unity that comes as you help others discover these same truths for themselves. As daughters of God it’s a blessing that comes with being a part of Relief Society or Young Women. But a similar feeling of celestial siblinghood can be felt in ward families and neighborhoods too. Here in the church “Brother” or “Sister” is not just a respectful title you reserve for adults. It’s what you call some of your best friends.
In the New Testament there are two famously different sisters, Mary and Martha, who learned from each other and can teach us much about being true disciples. Because they learned from each other’s strengths and weaknesses, they were both able to grow in their testimonies as a result.
Young Women General President, Bonnie L. Oscarson taught: To be sisters [and I would add brothers] implies that there is an unbreakable bond between us. [We] take care of each other, watch out for each other, comfort each other, and are there for each other through thick and thin. The Lord has said, “I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.”2
She continued:
The adversary would have us be critical or judgmental of one another. He wants us to
[We can all laugh at this humorous example of differences, but some differences are truly
The Atonement Helps Us Love
Sometimes it is easy to love, serve, and be served. But what about when we feel that strange sort of pride that makes it hard to ask for help? What about when we don’t understand someone or they hurt us and we’re still supposed to feel charity?! How then can we enjoy the brotherhood and sisterhood of being united in Christ? Sister Neill F. Marriott shared her experience with these gospel truths:
One memorable night a relative and I disagreed about a political issue. She briskly and thoroughly took my comments apart, proving me wrong within earshot of family members. I felt foolish and uninformed—and I probably was. That night as I knelt to pray, I hurried to explain to Heavenly Father how difficult this relative was! I talked on and on. Perhaps I paused in my complaining and the Holy Ghost had a chance to get my attention, because, to my surprise, I next heard myself say, “You probably want me to love her.” Love her? I prayed on, saying something like, “How can I love her? I don’t think I even like her. My heart is hard; my feelings are hurt. I can’t do it.”
Then, surely with help from the Spirit, I had a new thought as I said, “But You love her, Heavenly Father. Would You give me a portion of Your love for her—so I can love her too?” My hard feelings softened, my heart started to change, and I began to see this person differently. I began to sense her real value that Heavenly Father saw. Isaiah writes, “The Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.”10
Over time the gap between us sweetly closed. But even if she had not accepted my changed heart, I had learned that Heavenly Father will help us love even those we may think are unlovable, if we plead for His aid. The Savior’s Atonement is a conduit for the constant flow of charity from our Father in Heaven. We must choose to abide in this love in order to have charity for all.
Brothers and sisters, I have had similar experiences and I know it is true. It may be hard and celestial growing pains are painful, but truly, “perfect love casteth out all fear.”
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| Circle of Sisters, by David Dibble. © David Dibble. |
In the manual Daughters of My Kingdom we find a beautiful explanation of Relief Society. I've substituted the words "the Gospel" for Relief Society: "[In the world there are] walls designed to restrict some people and exclude others. In contrast, [the Gospel builds] spiritual walls of refuge designed to protect and include." We can and should come together in Christ and invite others to join us. (See chapter 6.) In this spirit of fellowship I’d like to introduce who I am, where I came from, and how the gospel has taught me these truths.
My name is Danielle Hart and as a daughter of God I fully embrace that I am a creator. I love and live for beauty and truth through music, organization, cooking, and any other way I can think of to share my testimony. When I am not raising my 6 year old daughter or helping my husband, I can be found singing or studying Spanish in preparation for graduate school next year. As the oldest of 4 children, I spent most of my childhood growing up in the forested suburbs of Seattle, WA within driving distance of Puget Sound. In many ways CT is a sort of deja vu for me. I grew up the first part of my childhood in the Federal Way stake and by the time I was a teenager, my Dad had also become my bishop. Like me, he had been born in the church and grown up studying the gospel so he could know the truth of it for himself. He and my mom taught me to do the same, to search the scriptures for answers, and to love the Lord.
My name is Danielle Hart and as a daughter of God I fully embrace that I am a creator. I love and live for beauty and truth through music, organization, cooking, and any other way I can think of to share my testimony. When I am not raising my 6 year old daughter or helping my husband, I can be found singing or studying Spanish in preparation for graduate school next year. As the oldest of 4 children, I spent most of my childhood growing up in the forested suburbs of Seattle, WA within driving distance of Puget Sound. In many ways CT is a sort of deja vu for me. I grew up the first part of my childhood in the Federal Way stake and by the time I was a teenager, my Dad had also become my bishop. Like me, he had been born in the church and grown up studying the gospel so he could know the truth of it for himself. He and my mom taught me to do the same, to search the scriptures for answers, and to love the Lord.
When I was a sophomore in highschool my dad decided to apply for a job teaching religion at BYU-Idaho. Just a few months after I turned 16, my family moved to a beautiful little college town where--despite its unbelievably cold winters--we felt warmly welcomed!
It was there in Rexburg that I learned the strength of sisterhood as my 2 sisters and I took turns learning from each other’s examples. I also experienced sisterhood when our next-door neighbors invited us to Young Women activities. The best kind of sibling love happened when one daughter of God was befriended at school by a son of God who would one day become her husband! As a teenager I was taught to focus on becoming the kind of girl my Mr. Right would be attracted to; it must have worked because Gregory has always been the kind of young man I wanted to grow up and marry! We began dating about the time he took a mission preparation class from my dad. We were married in the Rexburg ID temple after Gregory returned from serving a full-time mission in Santa Rosa, CA. Shortly after having our daughter Victoria join our family, my little sister married his little brother! Gregory just finished his Ph. D. in Physics and is now working at Yale as a post doc in Therapeutic Radiation Oncology.
Examples in the Gospel
Recently, Sister Joy J. Jones (Primary General President) shared stories of several sisters in different countries who discovered their worth through divine doctrine. She taught us in the women’s session of conference that “truly knowing you are a daughter of God will guide you to service.” This is the essence of sisterhood: knowing you’re a child of God and acting on that testimony, which will help others to do the same. Because of God’s plan of salvation, we know that being sisters is an eternal role and it isn’t limited to blood relations. We can learn from, love, and serve anyone.
One of the previous General Relief Society presidents taught this about Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her cousin, Elizabeth, who visit taught one another during their miraculous pregnancies:
Women the world over appreciate the closeness Mary and Elizabeth felt and the strength they
It was there in Rexburg that I learned the strength of sisterhood as my 2 sisters and I took turns learning from each other’s examples. I also experienced sisterhood when our next-door neighbors invited us to Young Women activities. The best kind of sibling love happened when one daughter of God was befriended at school by a son of God who would one day become her husband! As a teenager I was taught to focus on becoming the kind of girl my Mr. Right would be attracted to; it must have worked because Gregory has always been the kind of young man I wanted to grow up and marry! We began dating about the time he took a mission preparation class from my dad. We were married in the Rexburg ID temple after Gregory returned from serving a full-time mission in Santa Rosa, CA. Shortly after having our daughter Victoria join our family, my little sister married his little brother! Gregory just finished his Ph. D. in Physics and is now working at Yale as a post doc in Therapeutic Radiation Oncology.
Examples in the Gospel
Recently, Sister Joy J. Jones (Primary General President) shared stories of several sisters in different countries who discovered their worth through divine doctrine. She taught us in the women’s session of conference that “truly knowing you are a daughter of God will guide you to service.” This is the essence of sisterhood: knowing you’re a child of God and acting on that testimony, which will help others to do the same. Because of God’s plan of salvation, we know that being sisters is an eternal role and it isn’t limited to blood relations. We can learn from, love, and serve anyone.
One of the previous General Relief Society presidents taught this about Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her cousin, Elizabeth, who visit taught one another during their miraculous pregnancies:
each gained together.
This account allows us to see clearly that sisterhood may be both individual and shared. As the Savior would later say, “My mother and my brethren [and we may add sisters], are these which hear the word of God, and do it.” (Luke 8:21.) In that sense, Mary, as well as Elizabeth, enjoyed a sisterhood that had to do with personally qualifying through faithfulness to be counted among the followers of righteousness—the sons and daughters of God.
This account allows us to see clearly that sisterhood may be both individual and shared. As the Savior would later say, “My mother and my brethren [and we may add sisters], are these which hear the word of God, and do it.” (Luke 8:21.) In that sense, Mary, as well as Elizabeth, enjoyed a sisterhood that had to do with personally qualifying through faithfulness to be counted among the followers of righteousness—the sons and daughters of God.
In the New Testament there are two famously different sisters, Mary and Martha, who learned from each other and can teach us much about being true disciples. Because they learned from each other’s strengths and weaknesses, they were both able to grow in their testimonies as a result.
Young Women General President, Bonnie L. Oscarson taught: To be sisters [and I would add brothers] implies that there is an unbreakable bond between us. [We] take care of each other, watch out for each other, comfort each other, and are there for each other through thick and thin. The Lord has said, “I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.”2
She continued:
The adversary would have us be critical or judgmental of one another. He wants us to
concentrate on our differences and compare ourselves to one another. You may love to exercise
vigorously for an hour each day because it makes you feel so good, while I consider it to be a
major athletic event if I walk up one flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator. We can still be
friends, can’t we?
[We can all laugh at this humorous example of differences, but some differences are truly
painful.] Sister Patricia T. Holland once said, “The point is, we simply cannot call ourselves
Christian and continue to judge one another—or ourselves—so harshly.”3 She goes on to say
that there is nothing that is worth us losing our compassion and sisterhood over. We just need to
relax and rejoice in our divine differences. We need to realize that we all desire to serve in the
kingdom, using our unique talents and gifts in our own ways. Then we can enjoy our sisterhood
and our associations and begin to serve.
The Good Samaritan
In sunbeams a few weeks ago we played ring-around-the-rosie to the Primary song, “Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly too. When your heart is filled with love, others will love you.” Jesus Christ often told stories to teach and answer questions. Someone once asked him, “Who is my neighbor?” In modern day English we would ask, “Who should I take care of, watch out for, and comfort?” According to the parable that follows, everyone! No pressure...
Another teaching of Christ that comes to mind when I think of this parable is the scripture, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Two ways to learn deeply from this parable are 1) to find yourself in the characters and 2) to find Christ in the characters.
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Jesus asks, “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?” [The one who saw a need and did nothing, the one who came and saw the need but wouldn’t or maybe even couldn’t adequately help, or the unexpected friend who made sacrifices?]
The main listener to this parable admitted that the true friend and neighbor was “he that showed mercy. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”
The Good Samaritan
In sunbeams a few weeks ago we played ring-around-the-rosie to the Primary song, “Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly too. When your heart is filled with love, others will love you.” Jesus Christ often told stories to teach and answer questions. Someone once asked him, “Who is my neighbor?” In modern day English we would ask, “Who should I take care of, watch out for, and comfort?” According to the parable that follows, everyone! No pressure...
Another teaching of Christ that comes to mind when I think of this parable is the scripture, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Two ways to learn deeply from this parable are 1) to find yourself in the characters and 2) to find Christ in the characters.
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Jesus asks, “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?” [The one who saw a need and did nothing, the one who came and saw the need but wouldn’t or maybe even couldn’t adequately help, or the unexpected friend who made sacrifices?]
The main listener to this parable admitted that the true friend and neighbor was “he that showed mercy. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”
This parable teaches us about our Father in Heaven’s plan of happiness. In early Christianity they taught that the man who fell among thieves was Adam. Remember, he left Jerusalem to travel to Jericho. (Pictured below: A stained glass window in Chatres, France shows the Fall of Adam and then the parable of the Good Samaritan.)
“Jerusalem is paradise, and Jericho is the world. The robbers are hostile powers. The priest is the Law [of Moses], the Levite is the prophets of old, and the Samaritan is Christ. The wounds are disobedience, the beast is the Lord’s body, the [inn], which accepts all who wish to enter, is the Church. … The manager of the [inn] is the head of the Church, to whom its care has been entrusted. And the fact that the Samaritan promises he will return represents the Savior’s second coming.”
The Ensign article where I found this quote continues: As a type and shadow of [God’s] plan, the good Samaritan places our deeds of neighborly kindness here in mortality within the eternal context of where we have come down from, how we have fallen into our present plight, and how the binding ordinances and healing love of the promised Redeemer and the nurture of His Church can rescue us from our present situation, as we serve and live worthy of reward at His Second Coming.
“Jerusalem is paradise, and Jericho is the world. The robbers are hostile powers. The priest is the Law [of Moses], the Levite is the prophets of old, and the Samaritan is Christ. The wounds are disobedience, the beast is the Lord’s body, the [inn], which accepts all who wish to enter, is the Church. … The manager of the [inn] is the head of the Church, to whom its care has been entrusted. And the fact that the Samaritan promises he will return represents the Savior’s second coming.”
The Ensign article where I found this quote continues: As a type and shadow of [God’s] plan, the good Samaritan places our deeds of neighborly kindness here in mortality within the eternal context of where we have come down from, how we have fallen into our present plight, and how the binding ordinances and healing love of the promised Redeemer and the nurture of His Church can rescue us from our present situation, as we serve and live worthy of reward at His Second Coming.
The Atonement Helps Us Love
Sometimes it is easy to love, serve, and be served. But what about when we feel that strange sort of pride that makes it hard to ask for help? What about when we don’t understand someone or they hurt us and we’re still supposed to feel charity?! How then can we enjoy the brotherhood and sisterhood of being united in Christ? Sister Neill F. Marriott shared her experience with these gospel truths:
One memorable night a relative and I disagreed about a political issue. She briskly and thoroughly took my comments apart, proving me wrong within earshot of family members. I felt foolish and uninformed—and I probably was. That night as I knelt to pray, I hurried to explain to Heavenly Father how difficult this relative was! I talked on and on. Perhaps I paused in my complaining and the Holy Ghost had a chance to get my attention, because, to my surprise, I next heard myself say, “You probably want me to love her.” Love her? I prayed on, saying something like, “How can I love her? I don’t think I even like her. My heart is hard; my feelings are hurt. I can’t do it.”
Then, surely with help from the Spirit, I had a new thought as I said, “But You love her, Heavenly Father. Would You give me a portion of Your love for her—so I can love her too?” My hard feelings softened, my heart started to change, and I began to see this person differently. I began to sense her real value that Heavenly Father saw. Isaiah writes, “The Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.”10
Over time the gap between us sweetly closed. But even if she had not accepted my changed heart, I had learned that Heavenly Father will help us love even those we may think are unlovable, if we plead for His aid. The Savior’s Atonement is a conduit for the constant flow of charity from our Father in Heaven. We must choose to abide in this love in order to have charity for all.
Brothers and sisters, I have had similar experiences and I know it is true. It may be hard and celestial growing pains are painful, but truly, “perfect love casteth out all fear.”
Conclusion
Whether we have family close by or not, we all can and should feel united in the love and testimony of Jesus Christ. We have covenanted to do so: it is our blessing and our responsibility to love and support each other! Through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ I know we can overcome anything. I know God wants us to be “knit together in unity and in love one towards another.” (Mosiah 18:21.) So many of you have been excellent covenant keepers by welcoming my family into this ward. We looking forward to loving and serving with each of you in the years ahead.
Bonus: See if you can find yourself in the story of the 3 very different sisters as told by President Ucthdorf. Doing so may help you increase the bonds of sisterhood in your life.
Whether we have family close by or not, we all can and should feel united in the love and testimony of Jesus Christ. We have covenanted to do so: it is our blessing and our responsibility to love and support each other! Through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ I know we can overcome anything. I know God wants us to be “knit together in unity and in love one towards another.” (Mosiah 18:21.) So many of you have been excellent covenant keepers by welcoming my family into this ward. We looking forward to loving and serving with each of you in the years ahead.
Bonus: See if you can find yourself in the story of the 3 very different sisters as told by President Ucthdorf. Doing so may help you increase the bonds of sisterhood in your life.
