Sunshine, Rain, and Love

As I rode horses with a special friend one day I asked him if he had ever become angry in his lifetime, for I had never seen him remotely angry, not ever. He paused thoughtfully, and eventually replied, "No, I don't believe so." When I asked how this was possible he replied, "My mother taught me very early in life that the way I choose to see the events that unfold in my life determines how and what I think; and my feelings then become the offspring of my thoughts; and my actions and all that I do and am are the byproducts of how I choose to see, think, and feel." He said, "Mom taught me how to always seek to see, think, feel, and act as my Father in Heaven would act if he were walking in my shoes." He said, "Many times a day we are enticed by stimuli, and if we pause sufficient to seek the Father's face, we quickly see the stimuli as he does; then our thoughts, feelings, and actions become as if he were walking in our shoes."

In the Sermon on the Mount the Savior taught that we become our Father in Heaven's children as we love the way God loves. It is easy to love those who love us and even the wicked love those who love them. However, to qualify ourselves as Eternal Heirs to the Father, we must come to love as he loves. God sheds forth the sun and the rain upon everyone, not just those who do right. Are the sun and the rain spoken of by the Savior also a shadow and type to teach us how to love as our Father loves? If so, what can we learn from the sun and from the rain?

The Sun as a Type
As I consider the farm upbringing I enjoyed I am grateful to the Lord for providing the sunshine that worked to energize the plants and to supply the energy required to fuel the 1000s of chemical reactions that enable the growth and health of the plant. The sun's rays provide energy within the plants to sustain the very life of the plant. As I consider the sunshine, I think of infinite rays of energy that energize and sustain life. The sun shines continuously whether the skies are overcast and no matter whether it is day or night. The sun is ever constant and infinite in its shedding forth its infinite light and warmth.

The Rain as a Type
The winter snows and the summer rains enabled sufficient water to flow down our river, and from our river into our ditches, which carry life-preserving water to our crops. Mother Earth provides the vitamins, minerals, proteins, and so forth that are carried into the plants through the medium of water. Without proper nourishment that is carried by water, the plant cannot survive or thrive. Water can also help to transform the drooping, wilting, and dying plant into a robust, full, and resplendent plant.

Liken Unto Us
Let's now consider the Sun and the Rain in context with the very purpose of life, or in other words to be made perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect. The higher law was given to help us be made perfect and to be able to enter into the presence of the Lord. As we come to love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength and as we come to love our neighbor's as ourselves we are made perfect.

Recently I learned that when my heart shines for love to another, that person is enabled with sufficient trust to share their burdens and their sorrows in a manner that they could otherwise not do. Most of the time we tend to keep our problems to ourselves because the world has taught us it does not want to know about our problems. However, we are not meant to carry our burdens alone; therefore, when someone truly allows their light to shine upon us, we readily share our innermost self with them. Therefore, to come to love others as we ourselves want to be loved, we must first shine forth as the sun with warmth and love. As we do so, only then are the secrets of the heart and mind revealed to us.

I recall a moment when a neighbor "trusted" me because I chose to love them. As she unburdened her heart, I was touched deeply. I had thought her to be just a cranky person and had no idea regarding the terrible burdens that she had locked away tight within her. She had actually done harm to my wife and my initial intent was to set her in her place. However, I succumbed to heavenly enticements and expressed my families great desire to be neighbors whom she knew loved her.

In the moments that followed she shared sorrows and burdens that were weighing upon her. They were so terrible that my heart swelled in size that day. I truly felt her burdens and my eyes began to form tears that formed into the shape of rain drops. As they fell to the ground new understanding flooded into my mind and heart and like the rain's water, I quite suddenly new what my wife and I could do to lift the burden of a new sister. We knew how to nourish a soul that needed lifting and in the years that followed we did what some said could not be done. We came to cherish this sister and her family and beheld the transformation that occurred as our tears of understanding transformed to graceful nourishment.

Conclusion
As the sun shines continually in the heavens and casts forth its infinite and loving rays, it strengthens all that it touches, and it continues to do so for as long as we live; so too must our hearts and our countenances shine forth with infinite and loving light to our neighbor, regardless of the circumstances or the clouds that may exist or whether it is day or night in their lives.

As the rain falls upon the earth and carries the nutrients into the plants and causes plants to become robust, full, and resplendent, we must come to know our neighbor's burdens and sorrows, to the extent that our hearts swell to overflowing and our eyes brim with water and pour forth tears -- as drops of rain. Only as the understanding of these burdens swells within us do we come to know how to nourish and love the wilted and drooping soul, that we may thereby strengthen our neighbor perfectly in her need.

As I see and feel the sun on a bright and sunny day, it reminds me that my light, love, and warmth is to shine forth both continually and infinitely, even to those who may dislike or hate me, or who may persecute, rob, lie, or abuse me in myriad ways. As the sun remains constant in the skies and as it shines forth its infinite warm and strength, so too must my heart shed forth my Savior's love upon all within my reach.

As I watch the rain and the snows fall, they remind me that until I truly come to know my neighbor's, then I cannot possibly come to love them as I would love myself. And, that only as I come to know their burdens and their sorrows will my eyes brim and overflow with tears that bring forth perfect understanding, so that I may know how to love my neighbor gracefully and as tenderly as water that enters and nourishes a plant.

As we come to see, think, feel, and act as the Savior towards our neighbor, both enemy and friend, we qualify to become eternal heirs of our Father. As we choose to love a neighbor whom we dislike, or who has abused or taken advantage of us, and as we choose to shine forth our warmth upon them and pray for the Lord's choicest blessings to be upon them anyway, amazingly, the doors to their hearts and the windows to their minds will open unto us insomuch that we can come to know their burdens, sorrows, and thoughts and by so knowing and feeling we can commence to lift their burdens and strengthen them, as gracefully as the rain's water causes a wilted plant to become resplendent and the entire plant to become nourished.