Growing Compassion

Love in a Rose Garden 

by Janine Simons

I found love in a rose garden one day. My daughter and I had gone to our local park that beautiful summer morning. She was happily playing on the nearby swings, when I decided to wander through a nearby rose garden. As I strolled among the flowers, I watched her flying back and forth, pumping with her legs and arms to reach the sky. 

In time, she came to join me, and we sat side by side, surrounded by dozens of hues and scents. As we sat, we looked up at the mountains to the east and marveled at the beautiful trees towering overhead. 

Just then, I looked down at my feet.  I noticed a shining piece of metal, oval in shape.  As I picked it up, I realized it was a tag from one of the rose bushes. I read the name of the nursery that had provided this plant; I felt the raised letters depicting the number of this variety. And then I read the name of this variety of rose – Love.   

I slid my arm around my young daughter’s shoulders and pulled her in close to me. I had found love in this rose garden.  

For many years, the metal tab hung on my key ring, a constant reminder of what I found and felt that day. If my heart, so easily distracted and filled with fear and sorrow, can feel love for others, then surely, my Father in Heaven, a perfect and exalted being, feels and extends his love to me. 

The Savior is the epitome of love. His very name speaks compassion, warmth, and concern. Oh, how we wish we could feel this kind of love in our own lives. Oh, how we wish we could extend this kind of love to others. 

The Savior never meant to hoard His love.  His only desire in life and eternity was to share it. 

Feeling the love of God in our lives can be challenging and disappointing at times. Perhaps, our expectations are too high, and we expect the love to come from a certain source at a certain time with certain conditions attached to it.   

In our daily walk, we may miss the love that flows constantly from heaven. We look around us and fail to see the grand manifestations of God’s concern for us. 

Think about a little child who is full of love. They may throw tantrums, and challenge us in many ways, but they know where love resides. They do not doubt that God loves them and that they are His children. 

What happened to us, since the days of our infancy, to cause us to lose sight of the endowment of compassion that once nourished us? His love has never abated, it has never diminished. It is we who have removed us from his presence. 

I recall a time when I felt extremely alone and afraid. I was living away from home one summer after my high school graduation. I had been away before, but this time was different. I felt very far away from everything dear to me and wondered how I would ever make it through that day, much less the rest of my life. 

In the privacy of my room, I knelt in prayer. I don’t remember the words I spoke, but I do recall the feelings – I have had those emotions even as recently as last week. But the response I felt will remain with me forever. In a gentle and loving manner, I felt my Father’s concern for me. I knew He understood as the kind words, “Be patient, daughter,” came into my mind. I knew then, as I know now, that my trials would not always be removed. I knew that life would be hard and challenging. But I also knew that I was loved and understood. And that knowledge made all the difference. 

What is compassion?  How is it defined?  The dictionary definition speaks of “pity inclining one to help or be merciful.” This definition sounds rather cold and distant.  When I am in the depths of sorrow, I don’t want pity, I want love. The Lord’s definition reminds us that his love is eternal and unchanging. He does not pity us; He knows what we’re going through. 

He can validate our experience for us because he has endured the trials and temptations we encounter. He wants to help us to be happy.  I found love in a rose garden all those years ago. I pray to feel it every day in the spiritual garden of my Father in Heaven.