The Law of Consecration: It's all about love

I've been reading and thinking about consecration a lot lately. Here's the official Jeannine Doctrine:
The early Mormons were unable to live the Law of Consecration because it was a whole bunch of rules about how you must give everything (time, talents, money, land, etc.) to building up the Kingdom of God (or the Church, depending on your views.) That's hard. Really hard!
It was supposed to be worth it, because only through living the law of consecration can we become celestial. It's part of the refiner's fire.
To consecrate is to make sacred. I believe that there is no need to make sacred. Everything and everyone already is. We just forget that. When we can really see people as the children of God that they are, it's not hard to share of our abundance. When every choice we make, every action we take, and every thing we acquire or own is viewed as sacred we start to live the law of consecration without thinking of all we are giving up.

The only problem is, that's easier said than done. But, I am trying. And I think I'm happier. If I was asked to live the United Order today, I couldn't. It just wouldn't work. But, I've started to view others as sacred and really love them for what they are, not what I want them to be and it really makes a difference.

Here's a silly, but true example: My next door neighbors have 2 small dogs that seem to know when I am lying down for a nap or trying to go to sleep at night. It's then that they decide to bark non-stop for at least 20 minutes, frequently more if the owners are not home. Don't get me wrong, I do love dogs, but there were times when I wanted to take a sledge hammer and beat down our shared wall so I could beat them senseless. But, I decided to try the sacred/love thing on them and you know what happened? No, they didn't stop barking. I became concerned for them. Were they trying to let someone know about a problem? Were they lonely? Were they excited because the garage door that we all just heard might be their owners coming home? It went even further than that. Yesterday, I was reading when they began their chorus. Of course I couldn't concentrate on the book anymore, so I listened to them. And I heard music. OK, that is a little bit of a stretch. But I heard pitches, and rhythms and patterns and almost got sucked into composing a song based on one of the barking patterns. Crazy? Maybe. But they don't bug me anymore.

One little itty, bitty step at a time, I'm learning to see the sacred and divine in everyone and eveything and to love them more because of it. Maybe I have a chance at this celestial thing after all.