Charity is the defining quality of Latter-day Saints, just as it was when Paul enjoined the early saints in Corinth to develop the quality. Love for God and love of one's neighbor remain the marks of a Christian.
"Now, for us, the measure of our love is the measure of the greatness of our souls. ... Love is the beginning, the middle and the end of the pathway of discipleship. It comforts, counsels, cures and consoles. It leads us through valleys of darkness and through the veil of death. In the end, love leads us to the glory and grandeur of eternal life.
"Sometimes the greatest love is not found in the dramatic scenes that poets and writers immortalize. Often, the greatest manifestations of love are the simple acts of kindness and caring we extend to those we meet along the path of life. True love lasts forever. It is eternally patient and forgiving. It believes, hopes and endures all things. That is the love our Heavenly Father has for us."
All humans yearn for that kind of love, given in spite of shortcomings. Heavenly Father is the ideal of such love. He sees and loves his children, with all their shortcomings, as the beings they are capable of becoming.