Love, Charity & Service
"Love is not a thing to understand.
Love is not a thing to feel.
Love is not a thing to give and receive.
Love is a thing only to become
And eternally be. "
by Sri Chinmoy
Stand a little Taller By President Gordon B. Hinckley
Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. -PSALM 34:14
"I do not care how old you are, how young you are, whatever. You can lift people and help them. Heaven know there are so very, very, very many people in this world who need help. Oh, so very, very many. Let's get the cankering, selfish attitude out of our lives and stand a little taller and reach a little higher in the service of others. As Browning said, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp." Stand taller, stand higher, lift those with feeble knees, hold up the arms of those that hang down. Live the gospel of Jesus Christ. Forget youself."
submitted by Rachel Carter
Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright
A very touching story about a Christmas tradition a family started when they had no money to purchase Christmas gifts. They started saving all there pennies and extra change in a bottle all year round until the bottle was full. The story shifts to where the family is no longer concerned about there needs and purchasing themselve Christmas gifts but look around the community an anonymously give the bottle to someone who is in great need of a little cheer or the money itself. I loved this book not only because it was very touching and enjoyable to read but when I finished reading the book it made me want to go out and serve and be more aware of people's needs. It showed me the true happiness and love that can come from serving people around you and in the community.
Submitted by Rachel Carter
Missionary Work
I believe that missionary work is centered on charity and that we can apply it in our lives daily. I want to share a quote by President Ezra Taft Benson about missionary work...
"I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! if a missionary works, he will get the spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of ministry. Work, work, work- there is no other satisfactory substitute. especially in missionary work."
-President Ezra Taft Benson: The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson (1988)
I think that as we work on serving others ( like a missionary) we will recieve the spirit and will obtain a greater desire to serve more and more and become charitable to the point that we will forget about ourselves and use our time and talents to serve and become like Christ.
Submitted by Jeff Tobler.
The opportunity for charity is all around us. Every day we have the choice to help an other or not to. I have noticed in my life that I try and keep myself blind to these opportunities, because if I do not see them, then they do not try exist. For example, when we see a homeless person on the side of the street, we instantly think "wow this person must have messed up one to many times". As they approach us we tend to lock our doors or roll up the window to our car hoping they will not try and make contact with us. This picture demonstrates perfectly the image that I am trying to implant into your mind. When you see it most likely your initial reaction is oh how sad, when really it is. But I would like you to ask yourself would I approach this man and try to help?
Abinadi showed ultimate charity. Without knowing that Alma was accepting his message, Abinadi willingly gave up his life because of his love for God and those around him. Incredible.
I found this video on YouTube and thought that it was a great example of charity. It is about a father and his love for his son. Dick and Rick Hoyt. Watch it because it is awesome.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8gm7XwtIJdM
A movie about service: "Pay it Forward"
This movie is based on the novel of the same name by Catherine Ryan Hyde.
This movie is about how one boy shnged the lives of many around him. One day, Eugene, Trevor's Social Studies teacher, gives Trevor’s class an assignment to look at the world around you and fix what you don’t like. He hopes, but doesn’t anticipate, that his students will take it seriously. However, Trevor takes the assignment to heart and comes up with the idea of ‘pay it forward.’ Trevor’s idea of “pay it forward" is doing something for somebody that they can’t do for themselves. You just have to do that three times and the people you help each do it three times, then it gets bigger. Trevor gives a young homeless man a place to sleep and take a shower. It then touches an older homeless woman and so on. Without realizing it, his plan becomes a reality and touches the lives of many around him. This is a movie that show the possibilities of what service can do.
See: http://payitforward.warnerbros.com/Pay_It_Forward/
Submitted by: Mike Preston
Movie:
Lifelong best friends Alice Marano and Darlene Davis, change their pre-college summer vacation destination from Hawaii to Thailand at Alice's insistence. While there, they meet a captivating Australian man, Nick Parks, who befriends them and invites them along with him to Hong Cong. However, the girls are found with large amounts of heroin at Bangkok International Airport while preparing to board their plane, and are quickly taken into custody for drug smuggling. Darlene is tricked into signing a confession in a foreign language she does not understand.
The story takes an abrupt turn as the girls find themselves sentenced to lengthy terms (33 years, plus fifteen for an escape attempt) in a grim Thai women's prison, called the Brokedown Palace by its inmates. During the first several months of their incarceration, the girls accuse each other of attempting to smuggle the heroin, possibly at the behest of Parks. While Alice and Darlene's friendship falls apart, the facts surrounding what really happened become increasingly muddled and distorted by corrupt Thai politicians, and the girls become less and less likely to be found innocent and released. They eventually turn to a greedy American attorney in Thailand, "Yankee" Hank Greene, in hopes that he can free them. Despite valiant efforts, Greene is beaten by the Thai legal system at every turn, and the girls' sentences remain. At the last minute, however, Alice - unable to bear the sight of her best friend suffering in prison any longer - proposes a deal with the King of Thailand to serve both girls' sentences in exchange for Darlene's release. The judge agrees to this deal, and the film ends with Alice bidding Darlene farewell, as she returns to the States.
I think this is a great example of charity bechase Alice is willing to serve both her time and Darlene's so she will not have to see her friend suffer any longer, and so Darlene can return to the United States.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zPBvShF_y7M
Added by Brenda Roberts
Music: Celine Dion - Because You Loved Me
I was trying so hard to find a song that was about charity that wasn't a hymn, and I came up with this great song! She talks about how her husband gives all he can to help her be strong and get through the hard times in life. Here are the lyrics, I tried to uplaod my song onto the site, but it wasn't working so this is the best I can do.
For all those times you stood by me
For all the truth that you made me see
For all the joy you brought to my life
For all the wrong that you made right
For every dream you made come true
For all the love I found in you
I'll be forever thankful baby
You're the one who held me up
Never let me fall
You're the one who saw me through through it all
You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'coz you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me
You gave me wings and made me fly
You touched my hand I could touch the sky
I lost my faith, you gave it back to me
You said no star was out of reach
You stood by me and I stood tall
I had your love I had it all
I'm grateful for each day you gave me
Maybe I don't know that much
But I know this much is true
I was blessed because I was loved by you
You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'coz you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me
You were always there for me
The tender wind that carried me
A light in the dark shining your love into my life
You've been my inspiration
Through the lies you were the truth
My world is a better place because of you
You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'coz you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me
Submitted By: Katelyn Vorkink
The Tender Mercies of the Lord
I think this article of The Tender Mercies of the Lord by David A Bednar shows the charity of the Lord towards his children. In the definition of charity in the dicitionary it describes leniency in judging other. The Lord shows leniency in judging us thorugh his many tender mercies. This article shows what the Lords tender mercies are who they are given to. Elder Bednar states that everyone of us can be selected for the tender mercies of the Lord. He also states that it is us who decides if we are chosen for these gifts given by Heavenly Father. Essentially, if we truly want to be like Christ we need to show charity to all just, not just the needy, as he shows charity to all of us through his tender mercies.
Submitted by Cari Berrett.
Gifts From The Heart
Michael Josephson
According to legend, a young man while roaming the desert came across a spring of delicious crystal-clear water. The water was so sweet he filled his leather canteen so he could bring some back to a tribal elder who had been his teacher. After a four-day journey he presented the water to the old man who took a deep drink, smiled warmly and thanked his student lavishly for the sweet water. The young man returned to his village with a happy heart.
Later, the teacher let another student taste the water. He spat it out, saying it was awful. It apparently had become stale because of the old leather container. The student challenged his teacher: "Master, the water was foul. Why did you pretend to like it?"
The teacher replied, "You only tasted the water. I tasted the gift. The water was simply the container for an act of loving-kindness and nothing could be sweeter."
I think we understand this lesson best when we receive innocent gifts of love from young children. Whether it's a ceramic tray or a macaroni bracelet, the natural and proper response is appreciation and expressed thankfulness because we love the idea within the gift.
Gratitude doesn't always come naturally. Unfortunately, most children and many adults value only the thing given rather than the feeling embodied in it. We should remind ourselves and teach our children about the beauty and purity of feelings and expressions of gratitude. After all, gifts from the heart are really gifts of the heart.
© 2003, Josephson Institute of Ethics
Submitted by: Amber Preston
In the Preach My Gospel manual, there is a section on charity.
"A man once asked Jesus, "Which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus replied: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like utno it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Matthew 22:36-39
"Charity is a "the pure love of Christ" (Moroni 7:47). It includes God's eternal love for all His children. We are to seek to develop that kind of love. When you are filled with charity, you obey God's commandments and do all you can to serve other and help them receive the restored gospel.
"Charity is a gift from God. The prophet Moroni said that we should "pray unto the Father with all the engery of heart, that [we] may be filled with this love" (Moroni 7:48). As you follow this counsel and strive to do righteous works, your love for all people will increase, expecially those among whom you labor. You will see them as children of God with the potential of becoming like our Heavenly Father, and you will labor in their behalf. You will avoid negative feelings such as anger, envy, lust or covetousness. You will avoid judging other, criticizing them, or saying negative things about them. You will try to understand them and their points of view. You will be patient with them and try to help them when they are struggling or discouraged. Charity, like faith, leads to action. You will develop charity as you look for opportunities to serve others and give of yourself."
More scriptures listed in the manual on charity are:
1 Corinthians 13
Paul extols the high status of charity—Charity, a pure love, excels and exceeds almost all else.
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not acharity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of aprophecy, and understand all bmysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the apoor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 aCharity bsuffereth long, and is ckind; charity denvieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself aunseemly, seeketh not her bown, is not easily cprovoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in ainiquity, but rejoiceth in the btruth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never afaileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a aglass, bdarkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth afaith, bhope, ccharity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity
1 Nephi 19:9
9 And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they aspit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving bkindness and his clong-suffering towards the children of men.
Alma 7:11-13
11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and aafflictions and btemptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will ctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take upon him adeath, that he may bloose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to csuccor his people according to their infirmities.
13 Now the Spirit aknoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the bflesh that he might ctake upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.
Ether 12:33-34
33 And again, I remember that thou hast said that thou hast aloved the world, even unto the laying down of thy life for the world, that thou mightest take it again to prepare a place for the children of men.
34 And now I know that this alove which thou hast had for the children of men is charity; wherefore, except men shall have charity they cannot inherit that place which thou hast prepared in the mansions of thy Father.
Luke 7:12-15
12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.
13 And when the Lord saw her, he had acompassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
15 And he that was adead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
Submitted by Kim Larson
Of Souls Symbols and Sacraments
(http://www.familylifeeducation.org/gilliland/procgroup/Souls.htm) by Elder Holland helps us see that charity is not lust. Brother Grant
The literature that I selected is a song by Wanda and Wade Lindstrom named the sacrifice. We are all familiar with the story of Abraham and Isaac. This song speaks of the task given to father Abraham. Not only can we see the love Abraham has by being willing to take his son's place, but God but speaks of the task which He also has to accomplish for us by allowing his son to die.
submitted by Aaron Olsen
The Sacrifice:
Abraham’s life had been shattered
Now his hopes for the Future were gone.
Cause he could not conceive
and he could not believe
God would ask for the life of his son.
The obedient Abraham trembled
As he tried to tell Isaac his task
Then his heart finally broke
When his faithful son spoke
“Dear Father I’ll do what you ask”
(Chorus)
“Ellohim where is thy mercy?
“Instead of my son take me!
This father is crying when I think of him dying
but I’ll do it now for thee”
As he raised up the knife and looked down at his son
pure sorrow filled up in his heart.
To shed the pure blood
of this innocent one
was tearing his soul apart.
Beyond the thin veil in a heavenly place
the tension and heartache were felt.
while Abraham cried as he sadly asked why,
and poured out his heart as he knelt
Chorus
“Stop!” came the answer from heaven
“I’ve seen what I’ve needed to see.
The test is now done,
Do not slay your own son
Now I know you’d keep nothing from me.”
“I, too am a father with love for my son
And mine is a similar task.
And my heart also broke when my faithful son spoke
“Dear Father I’ll do what you ask”
(Chorus 2:)
“And He’ll die for the cause of mercy,
In order for men to be free.
And this Father is crying when I think of Him dying,
but I’ll do it, my child for thee.
And this Father is crying when I think of Him dying,
but I’ll do it, my children for thee.
Charity is explained to a small degree in this poem. Here is the website where it can be found
http://www.poemsforfree.com/chari2.html
Charity is like an unsung anthem
Harmonizing everything we see.
A gift can be a work of silent witness,
Remembrance, reverence, unsought forgiveness,
Intention, labor, time, philanthropy.
The worth is measured only by redemption,
Yielding nothing but the grace to be.
Submitted by Jason McKenzie
Scripture: Luke 10:30-37
I think a good example of charity is found in the Bible. It is the parable of the good Samaritan. The good samaritan showed a great amount of charity to the man that lay hurt on the side of the road. He could have easily passed him, but he knew that the right thing to do, which Christ would do, is to help the man. The Good Samaritan showed kindness and love to one of God's children. He portrayed a "pure love of Christ" to another. In verses 33-34 it reads: "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 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."
Submitted by Melissa Mortensen
Testing for class
I think the song Love's The Only House (5:13) by Martina McBride shows how love and charity are great ways to help others. Throughout the song it shows how love is the only house big enough for all the pain in the world. It also shows how a little act of kindness will help someone for the better. I think this shows charity because love and charity go hand in hand; it portrays how with love you can show charity to someone. Submitted by Elisa Guzman
I think the movie "Raising Helen" is a good example of charity and love because it tells a story about a girl who is brought up in a very well off family, therefore she has never really had to care or deal with anyone but herself. After the death of her father she takes a job as a nanny. The girl who she nannies is a very spoiled and head strong child. Through this job she learns how to care for others. in the end the little girl then shares her love in return.
Submitted by Ashley Penney
I think "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" is a good example of what charity, love, and service really is. In it, it talks about how to love your family and what a family really is and how we are to cherish it, and by showing charity and giving service one to another; it shows our Heavenly Father that we appreciate our family and his blessing of allowing us to have the families that we do. An example from the proclamation is "Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness ... to teach them to love and serve one another..." It specifically states that we are to love and serve one another as God has commanded us to.
Submitted by Sibonet Holden
In the account of Matthew, we read the story of Christ fasting forty days and how he was tempted by the Devil. Following this it states, “Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;"
If you follow footnote 'a' from verse 11, we find that the Joseph Smith translation reads, “Then the devil leaveth him, and now Jesus knew that John was cast into prison, and he sent angels, and, behold, they came and ministered unto him (John)"
Even in Christ's own time of great need, he sought to provide for the needs of others before himself.
Submitted by Tyson Scott
I think mothers are one of the best examples of charity in the whole world. All they do is give, give, give. They put everyone first before themselves. Thank you Heavenly Father for putting mothers on the earth. Because of them, we have wonderful examples to pattern our lives after.
-Candice Forbush
http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-64-16,00.html "Because She is a Mother" by Elder Holland
Scripture
Charity is the pure love of Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 in the Bible states how important it is to have charity. Verse 4 states, "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; vaunteth not itself is not puffed up." Life is not going to be easy. We know that trials will be dragged across our paths during our mortal existence, but we can all help support and lift one another as we implement charity into our own lives. As we begin to see others as the Savior sees them, we will understand charity.
Submitted by Celeste Olsen
"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile" -Albert Einstein.
I think almost everyone will agree that when you practice charity in your life it makes everything so much more meaningful; you feel better about yourself, you have a positive outlook on life, and you have more to live for. Charity is one of those things in life that isn't hard to do, but makes a world of difference in both your life and someone else's. Submitted by Kelly Heath
Scripture: Luke 15:11-32
Charity is evident in the parable of the Prodigal son. In the parable of the Prodigal son the father showed great love and charity towards his son. The son had left home and spent all the money his father had given him on things of the world. The prodigal son lived an unrighteous life, however when he returned home to his family, his father took him in. This shows charity because the father could have shunned his son away, but instead he took him in with open arms. Charity is the pure love of Christ. The father showed a pure love of Christ towards his son by forgiving him and loving him unconditionally.
"Charity is the pure love of Christ. It is the love that Christ has for the children of men and that the children of men should have for one another. It is the highest, noblest, and strongest kind of love and the most joyous to the soul." (see 1 Nephi 11:23). http://www.lds.org/
Submitted by Melissa Mortensen
There is a book titled "Simple acts of Kindness" by Terri Green. This lady shares experiences from her life of when she had the opportunity to serve and give to others. She also shares experiences of when things have been done for her. She gives great suggestions on how we can serve others in our everyday lives by doing the simplest things. This woman shows what charity really is and how we can apply it in our own lives. She also stresses the fact that the most important place to serve and show charity is in your own home.
This link will take you to some great art work that depicts charity in many different and beautiful ways. There is some great artwork here. I will try to put a few of my favorites here on the Wiki. But I really think you will enjoy some of this art work.
William shakespeare
A LOVER'S COMPLAINT
FROM off a hill whose concave womb reworded
A plaintful story from a sistering vale,
My spirits to attend this double voice accorded,
And down I laid to list the sad-tuned tale;
Ere long espied a fickle maid full pale,
Tearing of papers, breaking rings a-twain,
Storming her world with sorrow's wind and rain.
Upon her head a platted hive of straw,
Which fortified her visage from the sun,
Whereon the thought might think sometime it saw
The carcass of beauty spent and done:
Time had not scythed all that youth begun,
Nor youth all quit; but, spite of heaven's fell rage,
Some beauty peep'd through lattice of sear'd age.
Oft did she heave her napkin to her eyne,
Which on it had conceited characters,
Laundering the silken figures in the brine
That season'd woe had pelleted in tears,
And often reading what contents it bears;
As often shrieking undistinguish'd woe,
In clamours of all size, both high and low.
Sometimes her levell'd eyes their carriage ride,
As they did battery to the spheres intend;
Sometime diverted their poor balls are tied
To the orbed earth; sometimes they do extend
Their view right on; anon their gazes lend
To every place at once, and, nowhere fix'd,
The mind and sight distractedly commix'd.
Her hair, nor loose nor tied in formal plat,
Proclaim'd in her a careless hand of pride
For some, untuck'd, descended her sheaved hat,
Hanging her pale and pined cheek beside;
Some in her threaden fillet still did bide,
And true to bondage would not break from thence,
Though slackly braided in loose negligence.
A thousand favours from a maund she drew
Of amber, crystal, and of beaded jet,
Which one by one she in a river threw,
Upon whose weeping margent she was set;
Like usury, applying wet to wet,
Or monarch's hands that let not bounty fall
Where want cries some, but where excess begs all.
Of folded schedules had she many a one,
Which she perused, sigh'd, tore, and gave the flood;
Crack'd many a ring of posied gold and bone
Bidding them find their sepulchres in mud;
Found yet moe letters sadly penn'd in blood,
With sleided silk feat and affectedly
Enswathed, and seal'd to curious secrecy.
These often bathed she in her fluxive eyes,
And often kiss'd, and often 'gan to tear:
Cried 'O false blood, thou register of lies,
What unapproved witness dost thou bear!
Ink would have seem'd more black and damned here!'
This said, in top of rage the lines she rents,
Big discontent so breaking their contents.
A reverend man that grazed his cattle nigh--
Sometime a blusterer, that the ruffle knew
Of court, of city, and had let go by
The swiftest hours, observed as they flew--
Towards this afflicted fancy fastly drew,
And, privileged by age, desires to know
In brief the grounds and motives of her woe.
So slides he down upon his grained bat,
And comely-distant sits he by her side;
When he again desires her, being sat,
Her grievance with his hearing to divide:
If that from him there may be aught applied
Which may her suffering ecstasy assuage,
'Tis promised in the charity of age.
'Father,' she says, 'though in me you behold
The injury of many a blasting hour,
Let it not tell your judgment I am old;
Not age, but sorrow, over me hath power:
I might as yet have been a spreading flower,
Fresh to myself, If I had self-applied
Love to myself and to no love beside.
'But, woe is me! too early I attended
A youthful suit--it was to gain my grace--
Of one by nature's outwards so commended,
That maidens' eyes stuck over all his face:
Love lack'd a dwelling, and made him her place;
And when in his fair parts she did abide,
She was new lodged and newly deified.
'His browny locks did hang in crooked curls;
And every light occasion of the wind
Upon his lips their silken parcels hurls.
What's sweet to do, to do will aptly find:
Each eye that saw him did enchant the mind,
For on his visage was in little drawn
What largeness thinks in Paradise was sawn.
'Small show of man was yet upon his chin;
His phoenix down began but to appear
Like unshorn velvet on that termless skin
Whose bare out-bragg'd the web it seem'd to wear:
Yet show'd his visage by that cost more dear;
And nice affections wavering stood in doubt
If best were as it was, or best without.
'His qualities were beauteous as his form,
For maiden-tongued he was, and thereof free;
Yet, if men moved him, was he such a storm
As oft 'twixt May and April is to see,
When winds breathe sweet, untidy though they be.
His rudeness so with his authorized youth
Did livery falseness in a pride of truth.
'Well could he ride, and often men would say
'That horse his mettle from his rider takes:
Proud of subjection, noble by the sway,
What rounds, what bounds, what course, what stop
he makes!'
And controversy hence a question takes,
Whether the horse by him became his deed,
Or he his manage by the well-doing steed.
'But quickly on this side the verdict went:
His real habitude gave life and grace
To appertainings and to ornament,
Accomplish'd in himself, not in his case:
All aids, themselves made fairer by their place,
Came for additions; yet their purposed trim
Pieced not his grace, but were all graced by him.
'So on the tip of his subduing tongue
All kinds of arguments and question deep,
All replication prompt, and reason strong,
For his advantage still did wake and sleep:
To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep,
He had the dialect and different skill,
Catching all passions in his craft of will:
'That he did in the general bosom reign
Of young, of old; and sexes both enchanted,
To dwell with him in thoughts, or to remain
In personal duty, following where he haunted:
Consents bewitch'd, ere he desire, have granted;
And dialogued for him what he would say,
Ask'd their own wills, and made their wills obey.
'Many there were that did his picture get,
To serve their eyes, and in it put their mind;
Like fools that in th' imagination set
The goodly objects which abroad they find
Of lands and mansions, theirs in thought assign'd;
And labouring in moe pleasures to bestow them
Than the true gouty landlord which doth owe them:
'So many have, that never touch'd his hand,
Sweetly supposed them mistress of his heart.
My woeful self, that did in freedom stand,
And was my own fee-simple, not in part,
What with his art in youth, and youth in art,
Threw my affections in his charmed power,
Reserved the stalk and gave him all my flower.
'Yet did I not, as some my equals did,
Demand of him, nor being desired yielded;
Finding myself in honour so forbid,
With safest distance I mine honour shielded:
Experience for me many bulwarks builded
Of proofs new-bleeding, which remain'd the foil
Of this false jewel, and his amorous spoil.
'But, ah, who ever shunn'd by precedent
The destined ill she must herself assay?
Or forced examples, 'gainst her own content,
To put the by-past perils in her way?
Counsel may stop awhile what will not stay;
For when we rage, advice is often seen
By blunting us to make our wits more keen.
'Nor gives it satisfaction to our blood,
That we must curb it upon others' proof;
To be forbod the sweets that seem so good,
For fear of harms that preach in our behoof.
O appetite, from judgment stand aloof!
The one a palate hath that needs will taste,
Though Reason weep, and cry, 'It is thy last.'
'For further I could say 'This man's untrue,'
And knew the patterns of his foul beguiling;
Heard where his plants in others' orchards grew,
Saw how deceits were gilded in his smiling;
Knew vows were ever brokers to defiling;
Thought characters and words merely but art,
And bastards of his foul adulterate heart.
'And long upon these terms I held my city,
Till thus he gan besiege me: 'Gentle maid,
Have of my suffering youth some feeling pity,
And be not of my holy vows afraid:
That's to ye sworn to none was ever said;
For feasts of love I have been call'd unto,
Till now did ne'er invite, nor never woo.
''All my offences that abroad you see
Are errors of the blood, none of the mind;
Love made them not: with acture they may be,
Where neither party is nor true nor kind:
They sought their shame that so their shame did find;
And so much less of shame in me remains,
By how much of me their reproach contains.
''Among the many that mine eyes have seen,
Not one whose flame my heart so much as warm'd,
Or my affection put to the smallest teen,
Or any of my leisures ever charm'd:
Harm have I done to them, but ne'er was harm'd;
Kept hearts in liveries, but mine own was free,
And reign'd, commanding in his monarchy.
''Look here, what tributes wounded fancies sent me,
Of paled pearls and rubies red as blood;
Figuring that they their passions likewise lent me
Of grief and blushes, aptly understood
In bloodless white and the encrimson'd mood;
Effects of terror and dear modesty,
Encamp'd in hearts, but fighting outwardly.
''And, lo, behold these talents of their hair,
With twisted metal amorously impleach'd,
I have received from many a several fair,
Their kind acceptance weepingly beseech'd,
With the annexions of fair gems enrich'd,
And deep-brain'd sonnets that did amplify
Each stone's dear nature, worth, and quality.
''The diamond,--why, 'twas beautiful and hard,
Whereto his invised properties did tend;
The deep-green emerald, in whose fresh regard
Weak sights their sickly radiance do amend;
The heaven-hued sapphire and the opal blend
With objects manifold: each several stone,
With wit well blazon'd, smiled or made some moan.
''Lo, all these trophies of affections hot,
Of pensived and subdued desires the tender,
Nature hath charged me that I hoard them not,
But yield them up where I myself must render,
That is, to you, my origin and ender;
For these, of force, must your oblations be,
Since I their altar, you enpatron me.
''O, then, advance of yours that phraseless hand,
Whose white weighs down the airy scale of praise;
Take all these similes to your own command,
Hallow'd with sighs that burning lungs did raise;
What me your minister, for you obeys,
Works under you; and to your audit comes
Their distract parcels in combined sums.
''Lo, this device was sent me from a nun,
Or sister sanctified, of holiest note;
Which late her noble suit in court did shun,
Whose rarest havings made the blossoms dote;
For she was sought by spirits of richest coat,
But kept cold distance, and did thence remove,
To spend her living in eternal love.
''But, O my sweet, what labour is't to leave
The thing we have not, mastering what not strives,
Playing the place which did no form receive,
Playing patient sports in unconstrained gyves?
She that her fame so to herself contrives,
The scars of battle 'scapeth by the flight,
And makes her absence valiant, not her might.
''O, pardon me, in that my boast is true:
The accident which brought me to her eye
Upon the moment did her force subdue,
And now she would the caged cloister fly:
Religious love put out Religion's eye:
Not to be tempted, would she be immured,
And now, to tempt, all liberty procured.
''How mighty then you are, O, hear me tell!
The broken bosoms that to me belong
Have emptied all their fountains in my well,
And mine I pour your ocean all among:
I strong o'er them, and you o'er me being strong,
Must for your victory us all congest,
As compound love to physic your cold breast.
''My parts had power to charm a sacred nun,
Who, disciplined, ay, dieted in grace,
Believed her eyes when they to assail begun,
All vows and consecrations giving place:
O most potential love! vow, bond, nor space,
In thee hath neither sting, knot, nor confine,
For thou art all, and all things else are thine.
''When thou impressest, what are precepts worth
Of stale example? When thou wilt inflame,
How coldly those impediments stand forth
Of wealth, of filial fear, law, kindred, fame!
Love's arms are peace, 'gainst rule, 'gainst sense,
'gainst shame,
And sweetens, in the suffering pangs it bears,
The aloes of all forces, shocks, and fears.
''Now all these hearts that do on mine depend,
Feeling it break, with bleeding groans they pine;
And supplicant their sighs to you extend,
To leave the battery that you make 'gainst mine,
Lending soft audience to my sweet design,
And credent soul to that strong-bonded oath
That shall prefer and undertake my troth.'
'This said, his watery eyes he did dismount,
Whose sights till then were levell'd on my face;
Each cheek a river running from a fount
With brinish current downward flow'd apace:
O, how the channel to the stream gave grace!
Who glazed with crystal gate the glowing roses
That flame through water which their hue encloses.
'O father, what a hell of witchcraft lies
In the small orb of one particular tear!
But with the inundation of the eyes
What rocky heart to water will not wear?
What breast so cold that is not warmed here?
O cleft effect! cold modesty, hot wrath,
Both fire from hence and chill extincture hath.
'For, lo, his passion, but an art of craft,
Even there resolved my reason into tears;
There my white stole of chastity I daff'd,
Shook off my sober guards and civil fears;
Appear to him, as he to me appears,
All melting; though our drops this difference bore,
His poison'd me, and mine did him restore.
'In him a plenitude of subtle matter,
Applied to cautels, all strange forms receives,
Of burning blushes, or of weeping water,
Or swooning paleness; and he takes and leaves,
In either's aptness, as it best deceives,
To blush at speeches rank to weep at woes,
Or to turn white and swoon at tragic shows.
'That not a heart which in his level came
Could 'scape the hail of his all-hurting aim,
Showing fair nature is both kind and tame;
And, veil'd in them, did win whom he would maim:
Against the thing he sought he would exclaim;
When he most burn'd in heart-wish'd luxury,
He preach'd pure maid, and praised cold chastity.
'Thus merely with the garment of a Grace
The naked and concealed fiend he cover'd;
That th' unexperient gave the tempter place,
Which like a cherubin above them hover'd.
Who, young and simple, would not be so lover'd?
Ay me! I fell; and yet do question make
What I should do again for such a sake.
'O, that infected moisture of his eye,
O, that false fire which in his cheek so glow'd,
O, that forced thunder from his heart did fly,
O, that sad breath his spongy lungs bestow'd,
O, all that borrow'd motion seeming owed,
Would yet again betray the fore-betray'd,
And new pervert a reconciled maid!'
Scripture: Luke 6:35
"But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest:for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil."
This scripture is about Chirst's love for us, he not only loves his family, and friends, but he loves eveyone inculding our enemies. If we love everyone like Christ asks us to, we will not have enemies to hate. Serivce will help to soften our hearts.
submitted be Rachel Callister
The book Seedfolks
I read the book Seedfolks and one of the main points that I got out of reading it was the way people went out of there way to help others around them. At first the people and neighbors all had their own groups or clicks in the streets as in one culture stays with their own and so on. The garden that was started by a little girl helped to get the neighbors out of their own little culture and converse and enjoy the neighbors company instead of being in the same old group. As the story goes on people tend to lookout for each other and tend to show more kindness and love.
Submitted by Jordan Hansen
Speaking
I take him outside
under the trees,
have him stand on the ground.
We listen to the crickets,
cicadas, million years old sound.
Ants come by us.
I tell them,
"This is he, my son.
This boy is looking at you.
I am speaking for him."
The crickets, cicadas,
the ants, the millions of years
are watching us,
hearing us,
My son murmurs infant words,
speaking, small laughter
bubbles from him.
Tree leaves tremble,
They listen to this boy
speaking for me.
Simon J. Ortiz
To a Daughter Leaving Home
Linda Pastan
When I taught you
at eight to ride
a bicycle, loping along
beside you
as you wobbled away
on two round wheels,
my own mouth rounding
in surprise when you pulled
ahead down the curved
path of the park,
I kept waiting
for the thud
of your crash as I
sprinted to catch up,
while you grew
smaller, more breakable
with distance,
pumping, pumping
for your life, screaming
with laughter,
the hair flapping
behind you like a
handkerchief waving
goodbye.
Charity
BY
Robert Service
The Princess was of ancient line,
Of royal race was she;
Like cameo her face was fine,
With sad serentiy:
Yet bent she toiled with dimming eye,
Her rice and milk to buy.
With lacework that for pity plead,
So out of date it seemed,
She sought to make her daily bread,
As of her past she dreamed:
And though sometimes I heard her sigh,
I never knew her cry.
Her patient heart was full of hope,
For health she gave God thanks,
Till one day in an envelope
I sealed a thousand francs,
And 'neath her door for her to see
I slipped it secretly.
'Twas long after, I came to know
My gift she never spent,
But gave to one of greater woe,
And wearily she went . . .
To be of charity a part,--
That stabbed her to the heart.
For one dark day we found her dead:
Oh she was sweet to see!
Exalted in her garret bed
With face like ivory . . .
Aye, though from lack of food she died,
Unflawed she flagged her pride.
Submitted by Chelsea Ames
This is a quote I got out of the book "How to be totally Miserable" by John Bytheway
"While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior." Henry C. Link
Submitted By Danielle RowLee
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