Charity

 Friday night George stayed up late replacing the heating element in our dryer.

Yesterday we had to end a shopping trip early when I ended up with a whole lot of some of the rankest dog poo you have ever smelled on my shoes.  And that pair of shoes has a thousand little tiny crevices perfect for holding on to nasty substances.

When we got home George realized there was something wet under the kitchen sink.  Of course.  Sometimes that's how life goes- and usually when you are preparing for holiday company, right?

As he tried to clean up the water, he made a grisly discovery.  The previous owners had at some point had significant water damage under the sink and rather than replace the sodden, damaged wood had simply covered it up with a new piece of wood.  

Consequently we had a tiny leak that slowly seeped under the false floor and became the perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew and silent, invisible damage.

I did get a new faucet out of the deal and I'm tremendously grateful for the things we know how to do and fix ourselves, but it made me think of a scripture I read this week.

1 Peter 4:8 says "For charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”

I read that verse on a social media post this week and something about it didn't seem quite right.  Sure charity is important, even vital but it doesn't cover or cancel our sins- repentance through Jesus Christ does that.  

A bit of study led me to the Joseph Smith translation of the verse: "And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity preventeth a multitude of sins."

Charity PREVENTETH sins.  

That felt much better to me.  More in keeping with what the doctrine of Christ teaches.  

I like Brigham Young's explanation- "In its wording this is not literally correct, for charity does not cover up, hide, or justify actual iniquity. It covers up a multitude of improprieties and weaknesses that some are inclined to suppose to be sins."

If we try to just cover up our sins we can end up with slow leaks and rotting underneath just like in my sink. They may fester there and come out in fits of anger, impatience and bitter criticism that we don't understand.  Nowhere does God ever tell us to hide them.  

On the other hand, charity WILL help us overcome those natural tendencies that we need to change.  Like assessing others' levels of mistakes instead of working on our own.  It will also make up for where we are simply human and have differing personalities and mannerisms.  It will let us see the good in one another in spite of our failings.  

Loving like Christ does will change our hearts so we don't even want to sin.  

Loving like Christ is what we do all the time, not just when we want to try and make up for wrong choices. 

Loving like Christ includes loving ourselves so that when we do mess up we can show kindness and mercy to ourselves and push forward with renewed effort.  That's how we slowly but surely win our personal battles that pull us away from God. Not by covering them up.

I am grateful for inspired translations that help me understand.  

And I hope that's our last unexpected repair of the week!