The Need to be More Humble

Lately I have felt surrounded by and seen more evident problems or situations that have been caused by pride.  Pride that causes one to be easily offended, or pride that encourages the judging of others in order to attempt to lift oneself up, and not being compassionate and Christlike as we should.  I am guilty of these things, but thankfully, I feel like I am being blessed to be aware of it and encouraged to do something about it.  I've felt the need to express these feelings publicly in an attempt to uplift or help others and share what I have learned and am still myself practicing at being good at.  (I am not an eloquent speaker or writer, so bear with me. And I hope with all my heart that this post does not come across as a "holier than thou" attitude.) 

It hurts to hear people talking about and judging other people when they don't understand or know what they are going through.    We all have problems and trials on this earth and we are each blessed with different talents and abilities that help us cope with those trials.  WE CANNOT AFFORD TO COMPARE OURSELVES WITH OTHERS.  It only brings us down and makes us feel worse.  I love the quote that one of my friends displays in her home that goes something along the lines of this, "Your name is safe here." If we all made a greater effort to not judge others, and not talk about them behind their backs, treat them as Christ would treat them, and do things in a manner in which we feared God and his judgement, not our fellow men and their judgements, we would all be a happier people.  

I'd like to share an experience I had yesterday.  To give some background first, I, as a religious person, like to find some time in my day to pray to my Heavenly Father, read my scriptures, and ponder what I have read and what my Heavenly Father wants me to know and do for that day.  I am so bad at doing this on a regular basis.  I struggle with going to bed on time and getting up early.  I'm not very disciplined.  I am not perfect.  I've been in a slump lately, but I've also noticed that coming out of those slumps are often my favorite times because I feel closer to my God and start to feel His power transforming my daily life.  I had one of those neat experiences yesterday.  I started with a prayer, knowing I would only have 15 minutes before it was time to pick up my daughter from preschool, and asked my Heavenly Father if he could bless me with some inspiration for that day.  Sometimes I am inspired to help others who may need it, share my joy through my religion with others, or simply know how to better deal with my children and husband and their needs.  I decided to come up with a question to ask Him before I began reading from my scriptures.  I thought of the struggles I see around me everyday, of people who are prideful and judgemental, and of the hurt and pain it causes others.  I realized that I am guilty of those things and so I asked myself and my God, "How can I be more humble, less prideful?"

I then began reading in the Book of Mormon in Alma 4, which is where I left off last time.  And as I opened and started reading, I felt immediately like I was receiving an answer to my question.  Alma 4 talks about the "pride cycle", where the people have suffered loss and are humbled by it, then were "awakened to a remembrance of their duty", and did what they were supposed to do, and began to have peace throughout the land.  Only after their peace, did they prosper and began to wax proud and set their hearts upon riches and the vain things of the world.  They began to be scournful and persecute others.  They were filled with envy, strife, malice, persecution, and pride.  They despised others, there was inequality, destruction, judgement, and turning the backs on the needy.  Alma saw the need and began to preach the word of God and bore pure testimony to the people to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, to pull down all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among the people.  

In Alma 5, I read what we need to do to gain salvation through Christ.  We need to repent and keep the commandments, be born again, put our trust in the true and living God, have a change of heart and receive His image in our countenance, have a pure heart and clean hands, cleanse our garments through the blood of Christ which means using the atonement to repent of our sins, be humble and strip ourselves from pride and envy, do the works of righteousness and be faithful to the end.  

In verse 6, one of the key phrases that stuck out to me was, "Have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance" and I finished that thought with....what has happened in the past?  That the Savior of our world has redeemed them and broken the bands of death and the chains of hell and their souls were expanded and they did sing redeeming love.  How can we remember our past of trials and blessings and remember our Savior and God who blesses us and then have that change of heart necessary to humble ourselves and put our trust in God and be faithful to the end? 

In Alma 5:26, it asks if you have ever felt to sing the song of redeeming love?  Do you ever feel so much love in your heart that you just want to sing?  If so, can you feel it now?  We need to check ourselves on a regular basis to find out if we have a soft heart and are on the right track.  

Alma 5:27-29 reads...
 27 Have ye walked, keeping yourselves ^ablameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently ^bhumble? That your garments have been ^ccleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to ^dredeem his people from their sins?
 28 Behold, are ye stripped of ^apride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.
29 Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of^aenvy? I say unto you that such an one is not prepared; and I would that he should prepare ^bquickly, for the hour is close at hand, and he knoweth not when the time shall come; for such an one is not found guiltless.

Could we each say that we have been sufficiently humble?  Because we are all imperfect, we all need to repent and bring forth works of righteousness.  If we go about doing good, with a kind heart, and are always keeping ourselves in check, then life would be so much happier for us all.  If we are always serving others, how could we be filled with pride?  Serving with faith is one way to stay sufficiently humble.  

That's my lesson learned for the day.  That is the humble answer to my question as I prayed yesterday.  One of the sweetest things about this personal revelation is that I feel that it totally coincided with what I was taught at Women's Conference (a meeting of the sisters of our church) just last week.  We were taught to be "wide awake to our duties" by bearing one another's burdens, mourning with those that mourn, comforting those that stand in need of comfort, and standing as witnesses of Jesus Christ.  It is not enough to just be on the journey, we must be awake to our duties.  We were also taught to be vigilant in checking the condition of our hearts to know if we are on the right track.  And there is power in the atonement of Jesus Christ to overcome the natural man and become true disciples of Jesus Christ. 

I know that my God hears me and answers my prayers, especially through my study of the holy scriptures.  I am so blessed to be uplifted by Him.  I know He loves me and is aware of my needs and is constantly watching over me.  I know that if we are continually striving in faith to do what is right, we will keep progressing through all the testing, adversity, and trials we encounter.  I am so grateful for this knowledge and the peace it brings to my life especially in a world that seems to be  more and more shadowed with evil.  My heart is full of gratitude for the joy I feel as I learn from my God.  I only hope I can remember these things I learn and keep my heart in check.  I pray that we all can be successful in this attempt.  Have a great day!