Me Thinks

Charity is loving the people that are easy to love and charity is loving the people that are not easy to love.
Charity is seeing people for who they really are, beloved sons and daughters of God.
Charity is seeing the potential in people and recognizing what they can become.
Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings.
Charity is having patience with someone.
Charity is resisting the impulse to become offended.
Charity is being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us.
Charity is caring for people.
Charity is being aware of people.
Charity is the desire to try to understand people and their points of view.
Charity is a gift from God.
Charity is the pure love of God.

Charity is not being run over or stomped on.  
Charity is not the relinquishment of your standards and beliefs. 

Joseph Smith said, "The nearer we get to our Heavenly Father, the more we are disposed to look with compassion on perishing souls, we feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders."

Sheri Dew adds, "The one sure measure of an individual's conversion to Jesus Christ is how that person treats others--in other words, his or her charity.  When we turn our hearts to the Lord, as we increasingly become more like Him, we instinctively open our hearts to others."

I have an example of charity from our ward that I witnessed on Sunday.  There is a boy in our ward who has some learning disabilities.  He struggled to learn how to read and he talks slowly.  After much practice and preparation, he gave the sacrament prayer on the bread on Sunday.  It came out slowly, but clearly, and everyone was able to hear and ponder the words.  It was a moment of quiet triumph as the boy read this prayer and the ward silently cheered him on.  He is a sweet and gentle boy and easy to love and this meant so much to him. Many ward members reached out to him after the meeting and told him what a good job he did. My comment to my son after the meeting was this, "Haven't you found that the success of others, and the happiness of others, often brings more happiness than your own success and happiness?