Cultivating Sensitivity to Others

"And we can increase our ability to love others. Everyone deals with something difficult. We all have weaknesses. Some deficits are more obvious than others, but everyone must overcome some obstacles. Why not help each other along, build each other up, and relieve each other’s burdens rather than make the journey even more difficult with criticism?

Do Good Continually

"In one of my favorite books, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, tending a garden brings healing to a sickly boy who once focused only on his negative situation and to a young girl who was once selfish and sour. A wise old gardener teaches a principle of gardening that can be applied to our attitude toward life: Where you tend a rose, a thistle cannot grow. Good deeds and good words can help us keep disappointments and difficulties from dominating our attitude.


"We can help plant roses in each other’s lives so that the thistles of life will not choke out the joy of God’s love—and His gospel. We can help each other along life’s path by being tactful and sensitive to others’ unique situations. We can help others maintain their privacy and not gossip about their challenges. We can unify our wards and branches by supporting each other and cheering each other on instead of being accomplices to divisiveness. Then we will find ourselves enjoying more fully the blessings of living together in God’s garden."

Cultivating Sensitivity to Others
by Andrea Worthington Snarr
Ensign
June, 2008