Guest
The following story beautifully illustrates the pure love of Christ that we so desperately need more of in our world. My dad shared this story last week in his stake conference, and it was so inspiring that I had to share: “In the events following the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War between the West, and the Eastern bloc countries. In the 1960’s, Germany was caught in the middle of a divide between capitalism and democratic ideologies on the West, and communism and socialist ideologies in the East. The Eastern government in Germany was centralized and was causing economic challenges such as food and supply shortages and people were experiencing extremely difficult living conditions. As a result of this disparity in lifestyle, people began to emigrate or flee from oppressive East Germany into free West Germany. So in an effort to eliminate this mass exodus of citizens, the East German government erected a 27 mile long, barbed wire fence that eventually turned into a concrete wall that popped up almost overnight and was built right through the middle of existing neighborhoods. One morning, some people living on the western side of the wall woke up to find that their neighbors to the east had thrown their garbage over the wall and into their backyard. In a natural man response, they threw the garbage back over the wall. The next morning, the garbage was again back in their yard and this garbage-for-garbage exchange continued for some time. Until one day, a local Christian minister heard about this negative interaction and addressed his congregation. He simply asked: If Jesus were involved with this, what would He do? They discussed and agreed that Jesus definitely wouldn’t return the garbage but would probably dispose of it. So they decided they would scoop up the garbage and haul it off, which was a clear expression of love, however, nothing changed, the garbage kept coming. A short time later, and with the additional chores they now had to perform each morning, the minister addressed them again and asked a followup question: If Jesus were involved in this, what else would He do? Again, a discussion ensued and the congregation responded that in addition to throwing away the garbage, Jesus would probably also respond with greater love. Christ’s love would go beyond the inward, minimal effort of removing the trash, His love would reach outward with charity. So the question was asked: How can we show Christ-like charity to our neighbors? Well the members decided they would not only collect and dispose of the garbage, but would additionally give back in return useful items that included blankets, clothing, food and even personal letters and in just one night, the garbage stopped. Soon letters came back over the wall, and thanked them, signifying their remorse and gratitude, that they were going through difficult trials and a relationship was built and completely changed the dynamics between the neighbors. This all occurred simply because someone decided they would show an outward expression of love, sincere compassion for their enemy on top of the minimal expressions of self-restraint and tolerance.“ Quotes from the prophet come from the talk “Peacemakers Needed“ and can be found here:
