On the very night that Jesus would be delivered up to cruel men to be spit upon, beaten, whipped, tortured, and finally killed, the Savior made this crowning pronouncement to His disciples. Knowing full well His fate, He said,

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35)

He called it a ‘new commandment,’ and well it was. ‘Love’ was to be re-enthroned once more among the Jews to its rightful place, not as – not as a gospel garnishment, but as an essential driving vital force in the Kingdom of God. The love that the Master intended was to be much more than something we said, much more than an affectionate feeling, it was to be the kind of love that this simple story illustrates.

Grandpa had a date with his four-year-old grandson. They were going to go out for the evening, just the two of them, to a local Salt Lake dance festival. And they did.

All was well for a time, but after two hours the little boy got tired of just sitting there. All that music and dancing was – well, it just wasn’t very interesting to him. He began to squirm and to wiggle, and he wanted to wander off. Well, Grandpa didn’t want that, so he tried to hold on to the little guy. This only made him more difficult. The little guy began to scream and holler.

Suddenly, without any warning, the toddler doubled up his fist and smacked his grandfather right in the side of the head.

“Grandfather,” he shouted, “don’t shove me!”

Well, that really rang Grandpa’s chimes, woke him right up. His first impulse, he said, was “that the little rascal ought to be spanked.”

But then he remembered something that he had seen the little boy’s mother do. Rather than give the little guy what some would deem he deserved, Grandpa reached out and gathered him into a tender embrace and loved him. In only a moment the little boy quieted and softened. His chubby little arms reached up and went around Grandpa’s neck in complete surrender.

Ah, now I ask, is this hard? Of course it is! It’s easy to say, but it is just exactly as hard to do as it is effective. Think about it: Returning meanness for meanness only yields more meanness. The world was changed once by love, one soul at a time. Why can’t it be done again?

As Grandpa said it, Grandpa Harold B. Lee, “If you want to save, that’s the method.” The Lord bless you.