Two passages on charity in the Doctrine and Covenants refer use the image of clothing, akin to the robes of righteousness, to describe charity. The context of these passages is also interesting, focusing on some of the details of our behavior toward others and, interestingly, on our own self-disciple. From Section 88:
123 See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous; learn to impart one to another as the gospel requires.
124 Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.
125 And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace.
126 Pray always, that ye may not faint, until I come. Behold, and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself. Amen.
And then from Section 124:
116 And let him repent of all his folly, and clothe himself with charity; and cease to do evil, and lay aside all his hard speeches;
May we all clothe ourselves with charity and have discipline in our lives to improve the way we treat others.
The passage warning against “hard speeches” is especially important to me. Whenever Many times when I have railed against some misdeed of others, I later learn that I understood only part of the situation and was too harsh. Hard speeches against the prophets and other leaders of the Church are the hallmark of the bitterest of anti-Mormons and even of some in the Church, and even when they seem fully justified, they are not the correct response to someone else’s problem. If we seek the miraculous gift of charity in our lives, our hard speeches are likely to wane and our tolerance for human failings increase. I sure hope that will be the case with me as I stumble toward the goal of charity.
I go to bed early. Thats all I do out of the things listed in Section 88.
Jeff,
Some of these items are what i consider the “impossible” commandments. Charity is so difficult. The “hard speeches” is also very difficult.
I am very guilty on all counts. I have seen many LDS people however that are clothed with the bond of charity.
“hard speeches” is a good reminder for blogging and commenting on blogs.
I need to remember to THINK of the consequences of what I say BEFORE I say it. I don’t always succeeed.
I was raised with constant harsh criticism, and even though I swore I wasn’t going to be that way, it was hard-wired into me. I’m still working on rewiring those circuits.