I Love People

President Lee is not with us now, but the spirit of that love which he exemplified still lives in my memory. He has helped me to understand what Orson Pratt meant when he said, "The Children of Zion love in proportion to the heavenly knowledge which they have received; for love keeps pace with knowledge, and as the one increases so does the other; and when knowledge is perfected, love will be perfected also" ("Celestial Marriage," The Seer, October 1853, p. 156). We see this process, also, in the life of our beloved Prophet Spencer W. Kimball. Love was part of his life long before he became the President of the Church.

A stake president in Logan, Utah, kept a guest book, and after he passed away, that book was given to his son. When the son thumbed through the pages, he was very impressed with the signatures that were there. Most of the General Authorities had signed the book. One entry he saw was:

Name: Spencer W. Kimball

Date: 1954

Position or title: Apostle

Hobby: "I love people."

He thumbed through many more pages, and then he saw an almost identical entry ten years later:

Name: Spencer W. Kimball

Date: 1964

Position: Apostle

Hobby: "I love people."

We all know President Kimball is a man of love. He thinks of love as a way to overcome even unknown offenses. Such an incident occurred with one of his neighbors who would go out and talk to President Kimball whenever he saw him in the yard. Then one day the neighbor's wife said, "You mustn't do that. The only time President Kimball is alone is when he is in the yard, and then you go over and impose yourself upon him."

After that the neighbor stayed in and just watched President Kimball through the window. A few weeks passed before President Kimball rang the doorbell of the neighbor and handed him a casserole.

"What's this for?" the neighbor asked.

"I don't know," replied President Kimball. "I've come to make amends for whatever I've done to offend you. You never come and talk to me any more, so I decided I must have done something wrong."

It is President Kimball who has lovingly explained to us that the Lord whispers to our hearts to go and do, and in this way he answers the fervent prayers of others. President Kimball says the Lord has chosen this method of answering prayers because he knows it is the way we will learn most effectively to give love.

Barbara B. Smith "Love Is Life, and Life Hath Immortality" BYU Devotional 14 February 1984