Charity,  Quotables,  Suggested Reads

She Must Needs Have Charity

January 3, 2024 /

The new year impulse to improve sat patiently in a corner of my heart through the holidays, biding its time until the bright merriment and bustle subsided and quiet rose in its place. It tiptoed close a few days ago as I began listening to President Russell M. Nelson’s April 2023 “Peacemakers Needed.” When he shared that “charity is the principal characteristic of a true follower of Jesus Christ” and described how an individual with the gift of charity behaves, it took me by the hand and asserted: “This. Seek this.”

And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Moroni 7:45

Scripture tells us that charity, the pure love of Christ, is the most desirable above all things, the most joyous to the soul (1 Nephi 11:22-23). What better use of my time could there be than to pursue greater charity–the highest, noblest, and strongest kind of love there is?


I am excited about 2024.

12 characteristics to practice.

12 months in which to practice them.

  • January: Suffereth long
  • February: Kind
  • March: Envieth not
  • April: Not puffed up
  • May: Seeketh not her own
  • June: Is not easily provoked
  • July: Thinketh no evil
  • August: Rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth
  • September: Beareth all things
  • October: Believeth all things
  • November: Hopeth all things
  • December: Endureth all things

My life has changed in significant ways since I last posted here in November 2021. Just before that last post, I met and began to fall in love with the most wonderful cowboy. Then, I met and fell in love with his six most wonderful children. The cowboy and I married, and I became a wife, a stepmother, a daughter-in-law. For one and a half years, I’ve focused on these new roles, trying to grow into them with grace. I hope to continue in them with grace. And now, in 2024, I hope to embody each of my roles–old and new–with not just grace, but ever increasing love.  

I hope to practice charity.

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