Love Like Jesus: The Talk I Gave After Being Called as Young Women's President

In November of 2023, shortly after being set apart as Young Women's President, I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting. I called it Love Like Jesus. I am sharing it here because the message is one I come back to constantly, and I think it belongs in more than just one room on one Sunday morning.

✨Listen to the full episode or read for the breakdown.

Where It Started

When I first sat down with my counselors to figure out what we wanted our presidency's message to be, I asked them a simple question. If these girls could take one thing with them out into the world, what would it be? The answers were all a little different, but they pointed to the same place. Love. And that did not surprise me, because love had already become my own north star in the years leading up to this calling. When things stopped making sense spiritually, when I was confused or frustrated or asking questions I did not have answers to, coming back to the two great commandments was always enough to keep me grounded. Love God. Love others. And I would add a third. Love yourself.

What Pure Love Actually Looks Like

Christ is the clearest picture we have of what love in action looks like. The nativity, the Last Supper, washing the feet of his apostles, raising Lazarus, healing the man with palsy, meeting the woman at the well, saving the woman caught in adultery, blessing the children. In every single one of those stories the motive was love. Pure, unconditional, boundless love. And so many of his most powerful moments were with the people on the margins. The ones considered least important or least desirable. He sat with them, walked with them, listened to them, and made sure they knew they were seen. There were no conditions on his love and no one was outside its reach.

So the question worth sitting with is this.

Are there conditions on ours?

Do we see each other as equals when we vote differently, parent differently, dress differently, identify differently? Do we love ourselves regardless of our weight or our mistakes or how fast we can read? Do we love God even when things feel unfair and the answers do not come?

Pure love does not have a checklist. It just opens.

"When things stopped making sense spiritually, coming back to the two great commandments was always enough to keep me grounded. Love God. Love others. And I would add a third. Love yourself."

What Love Did to My Parenting

"Pure love does not have a checklist. It just opens. So the question worth sitting with is this. Are there conditions on ours?"

I want to get personal for a second. Parenting has been hard for me. I love it deeply and it has also brought me to my knees more times than I can count. There was a season where there was so much frustration and time outs and tears and I knew something needed to change. After listening to a book about God's grace, I started asking myself one question in the hard moments.

What would love do right now?

That question changed everything. It meant a calmer voice. Asking questions instead of making assumptions. Saying sorry to my toddlers. Choosing a snuggle instead of a consequence. It has now become the question that guides most of my life, not just my parenting. When I let love lead instead of fear or frustration or ego, I feel more like myself. And when I mess up and let something else drive first, love is still there to help me clean it up.

You Were Not Meant to Do This Alone

There is a scripture that found me in a bathroom stall at the temple, of all places. Matthew 11, verses 28 through 30. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I had been trying to answer my hardest questions on my own, with good books and wise people and thoughtful resources. And those things helped. But I had not been intentionally including the ones who love me unconditionally and know me completely. Once I started bringing my Heavenly Parents and my Savior into my daily life as a necessary and intimate part of it, everything shifted. I felt guided. I felt peace. Even in the questions that still do not have answers.

"The love of our Heavenly Parents is not something you earn by doing all the right things. It is always there. You just have to choose to receive it."

Choose Love Anyway

The love of our Heavenly Parents is not something you earn by doing all the right things. It is not conditional on your attendance record or your certainty or your perfection. It is always there. You just have to choose to receive it. And from that place, something happens. You start to want to create more of it for the people around you. You see people differently. You see yourself differently. I know it might sound like I am out here preaching peace and love like some kind of 21st century hippie, and maybe I am. But I cannot deny what I have felt. My heart is full. And I would not trade it for anything.

Choose Christ. Choose love. The joy follows.

Cheering you on,

🌈 Brynne

Thanks for Being Here

Hi, I’m Brynne. I share my journey of becoming through stories and reflection - guided by a higher power as I explore identity, faith, and everyday life, inviting you to grow alongside me.

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