Love Is Suffering

     Everything I do is potentially to feel good. Therefore, everything I do is selfish. I eat cause i'm hungry, I sleep cause I'm tired. Even if I serve someone else, I do it for the good feeling and self-satisfaction that comes from the act. No one can deny we feel good when we serve others. So what is it that takes us from the selfish realm into one that is unselfish?
     It is our capacity to feel pain for another person. Why? Because like a mother carries the burden of a child, only if we are willing to suffer with another person is it more than selfish.  To be a truly good person, I have to suffer. The Book of Mormon is full of examples of good people who suffer. Lehi suffers anguish of soul for the rebellion of his sons, as does Nephi for his brothers. Alma suffers through "much tribulation of spirit" on behalf of his people.  Mormon himself watches with anguish and cries out for his fallen people. That is because he loved them.
    This makes Jesus Christ the greatest example of love of all time, for he bore all our afflictions. This to serve us. He put us above his own personal feelings of spiritual and physical peace.

sidenote: this also shows that detachment can never be a part of Christianity. Once can dedicate himself to the work away from earthly cares, but to detach from family relationships like a monk is not Godlike. It conquer desire, but removes the greatest suffering, the family. Therefore, Buddhism is limited on its capacity to love. Buddha did not cry when his father or friends died, but Christ cried when his friend died.  Logically, like Buddha saw, "decay is inherent in all componet things", so why stress about the family? However, Buddha also knew that some suffering is necessary for growth. Through Jesus Christ we can achieve the peaceful unattachment of Buddhism while mainting the joyful relationship of the family.
      The modern world seems to avoid having children within the bonds of marriage. Perhaps because it seems to expensive, time consuming, basically too much stress..  But those who live it know, that the greatest suffering comes from kids, and becomes the greatest growth. We are limited in our capacity to carry a burden with someone, or it at least remains untested, until we have a family of our own.