Let Love Be the Lodestar of Your Life

President Gordon B. Hinckley

When I was a boy, we lived on a farm in the summer. It was in the country, where the nights were dark. There were no streetlights or anything of the kind. My brother and I slept out-of-doors. On clear nights—and most of those nights were clear and the air was clean—we would lie on our backs and look at the myriads of stars in the heavens. We could identify some of the constellations and other stars as they were illustrated in our encyclopedia. Each night we would trace the Big Dipper, the handle and the cup, to find the North Star.

We came to know of the constancy of that star. As the earth turned, the others appeared to move through the night. But the North Star held its position in line with the axis of the earth. And so it had come to be known as the Polar Star, or the Polestar, or the Lodestar. Through centuries of time, mariners had used it to guide them in their journeys. They had reckoned their bearings by its constancy, thereby avoiding traveling in circles or in the wrong direction, as they moved across the wide, unmarked seas.

Because of those boyhood musings, the Polar Star came to mean something to me. I recognized it as a constant in the midst of change. It was something that could always be counted on, something that was dependable, an anchor in what otherwise appeared to be a moving and unstable firmament.

Love is like the Polar Star. In a changing world, it is a constant. It is of the very essence of the gospel. It is the security of the home. It is the safeguard of community life. It is a beacon of hope in a world of distress.

“Every Star Is Different,” Children’s Songbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 142–43

Cheerfully

1. Ev’ry star is diff’rent,
And so is ev’ry child.
Some are bright and happy,
And some are meek and mild.
Ev’ry one is needed
For just what he can do.
You’re the only person
Who ever can be you.
 

A shining star, shining brightly,
Not so very far, shining brightly;
Be a shining star. Shine so brightly;
Shine right where you are, brightly!
 

2. I can shine for others
And let them feel my love,
Follow the commandments
That come from God above.
I can help another
To learn to choose the right.
Having faith and courage
Will let my star shine bright.
 

Words: John C. Cameron, b. 1951

I am like a star shining brightly,
Smiling for the whole world to see.
I can do and say
Happy things each day,
For I know Heav’nly Father loves me.
(Children’s Songbook, page 163.)

The Shepherds followed a new star in the sky because they knew it would lead them to the Baby Jesus. Did you know that you can be like that star? If you do what Jesus Christ wants you to do by loving and helping others, you will have a warm glow inside and out. Other people will see this glow on your face and want to follow your example. By following you, they will be led to Jesus Christ, just as the shepherds and later the Wise Men were led to Him by the Christmas star.

"The same God that placed that star in a precise orbit millennia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the Babe has given at least equal attention to placement of each of us in precise human orbits so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our individual lives, so that our light may not only lead others but warm them as well."
- Neal A Maxwell
 

I testify to you that God has known you individually, brethren, for a long, long time (see D&C 93:23). He has loved you for a long, long time. He not only knows the names of all the stars (see Ps. 147:4; Isa. 40:26); He knows your names and all your heartaches and your joys! By the way, you have never seen an immortal star; they finally expire. But seated by you tonight are immortal individuals—imperfect but who are, nevertheless, “trying to be like Jesus”!

- Neal A Maxwell

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