"Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble . . . "

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood session of the October 2010 conference.

Mac Davis wrote a funny song about it being hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way. 

What's even harder than being humble is realizing that I'm guilty of the sin of pride. Some of what President Uchtdorf said in this session cut me to the core.

One of my spiritual gifts (maybe my only one) is knowledge. Somehow I just know things, or understand the scriptures, or have insights given to me and such. I'm going to substitute a word here to liken the talk to me.

We are servants of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are not given [knowledge] so that we can take our bows and bask in praise. We are here to roll up our sleeves and go to work. We are enlisted in no ordinary task. We are called to prepare the world for the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We seek not our own honor but give praise and glory to God. We know that the contribution we can make by ourselves is small; nevertheless, as we exercise [our knowledge] in righteousness, God can cause a great and marvelous work to come forth through our efforts. We must learn, as Moses did, that "man is nothing" by himself but that "with God all things are possible." 

I frequently wonder how I can use my gift to further the work of gathering Israel. I can't volunteer to speak in Sacrament Meeting or Stake Conference, or teach Gospel Doctrine or Seminary/Institute, that isn't the order of things in the church. I have to wait to be called to do those things. So what do I do?

President Uchtdorf says, "We don't discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with an attitude of serving God and our fellowman. Humility directs our attention and love toward others and to Heavenly Father's purposes. . . . The moment we stop obsessing with ourselves and lose ourselves in service, our pride diminishes and begins to die."

I'm guilty of wanting to serve in big ways, to show off my knowledge and understanding. But that's not the Lord's way. 

. . . we are tools in the hands of God. When our heart is in the right place, we do not complain that our assigned task is unworthy of our abilities. We gladly serve wherever we are asked. When we do this, the Lord can use us in ways beyond our understanding to accomplish His work.

My theme song needs to be "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go, Dear Lord." I have a new opportunity to prove myself since we're moving to a new ward next month. I hope I can be humble, meek, and submit to the Lord's use of me and my talents. 

 

Steadfast and Immovable

Our beautiful Northern Pin Oak

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Young Womens session of the April 2003 conference.

The theme for this meeting was taken from the Mutual theme for the year, 2 Nephi 31:20, Ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.

I'll share some of my favorite quotes from each talk.

Susan W. Tanner:  

Speaking of Abraham, "He did not know the outcome of that test as we know it from a historical perspective. He was walking into the unknown. Still he was steadfast. He was living on promises that the Lord would bless him. Whatever nervousness he may have felt didn't deter him from pressing forward with a steadfastness in Christ."

Isn't that how every life is? We can't see the outcome, only where we are now, hoping that the outcome will be what we want. That is why life takes trusting the Lord and following Him because of His omniscience. 

"But when you keep your covenants, you will learn to more fully love those to whom you are eternally bound. Then you will also be able to extend your love beyond that circle to others."

I want to explore the connection between keeping covenants and love. I'm not very good at loving others. I tolerate others, but don't feel unconditional love for most people. I know I have to do better in this area because while I think I'm keeping my covenants, I must not be in the right way, because I'm not experiencing this particular fruit.

Julie B. Beck: "My mother has stayed in the Savior's path with unshaken faith in Him (see 2 Nephi 31:19) all the days of her life. She wakes up every day looking forward to new adventures. For her, life is so interesting, and she still has so much to learn."

I know a little bit about Sister Beck's mother and the challenges she faced in life. Oh how I want to be more like her in her attitude! I often wonder what it would be like to be equally yoked in marriage and if that would make a difference in my spiritual and emotional strength. Too often I feel so beaten down and exhausted by the consequences of who I chose to marry and the draining struggles of our differences. 

Elaine B. Dalton: "Nephi not only had a vision of how to return to his heavenly home, but he also had a vision of what he wanted in his earthly home. The Savior will help you see and understand the vision He has for you."

My mission president told us that God's will for us could be achieved only with our full cooperation. Which I believe with all my soul. But after I'd been married for a decade I realized that now I was in a "love triangle" and it would take the cooperation of another to realize God's vision. That old unequally yoked business. But I keep working on myself so that I know I've done all I can.

President James E. Faust: "I can say without hesitation that you can have a 'perfect brightness of hope' for your future and endless joy if you 'press forward' as righteous daughters of God."

I hope he means it is never too late!

"A person who is humble is teachable."

That's what I strive to be.

"The character thus formed from self-discipline will rise with you in the Resurrection."

Good to know! It helps me keep going.

"Remember that you and the Church will be judged in part by your cleanliness and neatness in appearance."

In the Doctrine and Covenants section 42:40 is the phrase '. . . let all thy garments be plain, and their beauty the beauty of the work of thine own hands.' I believe that "plain" doesn't mean unadorned or dowdy, rather it means clear, unmistakable, obvious, as in it is plain that we are covenant people, followers of Jesus Christ. And when the fashions of the world are not compatible with our covenants, then we make our own clothing and set our own style and fashion. If we say to the world that we are virtuous followers of Jesus, but dress like the world, doesn't that make for confusion? We are called to be different from the world to attract those who are seeking purity, virtue, and relief from the evils of the world.

"Grace is a God-given virtue. It is a disposition to be kind and to do good. . . . Charm is attractiveness which comes from a feeling of personal dignity, an inner beauty that comes from a feeling of self-worth."

Too many times in my life I lack both grace and charm. Sad to admit. But I'm working on it.

"It may be that your most significant, everlasting achievements will be your righteous influence on others, that your divine feminine inner beauty and intuition will find expression in your quiet strength, gentleness, dignity, charm, graciousness, creativity, sensitivity, radiance, and spirituality. Enhance these sublime feminine gifts. They will make you appealing and even irresistible as you serve others as the handmaidens of God."

Still at age 66 (December 30), that's my goal. At my funeral I want to be remembered as a women like President Faust describes. I'd better to get work!

Faith Obedience and Being Teachable

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday afternoon session of the April 2002 conference.

Two members of the Quorum of the Seventy spoke in this session whom I have no recollection of. However, I thought their talks were instructive.

Elder R. Conrad Schultz said, "Faith obedience is a matter of trust. The question is simple: Do we trust our Heavenly Father? Do we trust our prophets?" That is what I tried to get across to our children, that obedience is trust in me as their mother, that I have their safety and best interests in mind; and that we can trust Heavenly Father in the same way. He went on to explain, "Sometimes it is necessary to be obedient even when we do not understand the reason for the law. It takes faith to be obedient."

When our children were young, I think the oldest was about 12, they wanted to watch the movie Sixth Sense. We advised them that it would be better if they waited until they were older because it was a scary movie. No, they insisted they wouldn't be scared! My husband and I talked it over and decided that this would be a good teaching moment, so we let them watch it. Afterward, they were so nervous they couldn't go to sleep without priesthood blessings to calm them down. The next day we talked about how in the future they could trust us to know what we were talking about. For years it worked. Whenever they wanted to do something and we wouldn't let them we would remind them of the movie and that we knew what was best for them. 

At the beginning of the talk, Elder Schultz told a story of their family vacation fishing when a large "sneaker wave" swamped their boat and a cousin was washed overboard. Fortunately, they were all wearing life-jackets and no one was lost. He ended his talk with this poignant prayer, ". . . that we will continue to wear our life jackets of obedience in order to avoid the tragedy that will surely come if we are deceived and follow the enticings of the adversary." I thought of our beloved James, mired in bad choices, who succumbed to the whisperings of Satan that there was no hope for him. Obedience in his teens and early twenties would have changed the course of his life.

Elder Robert R. Steuer gave a great talk on being teachable. "When our desire to receive instructions is a greater force than our comfort in remaining as we are, we become teachable." He gave three conditions to being teachable. "First, we need to start with a willingness to be instructed." I used to call our children 'recalcitrant' when they were refusing to receive instruction. It's such a good, old-fashioned word. A child, student, or adult really does need to be humble and willing to be instructed before any learning can take place.

"Second, we need to put ourselves into a proper frame of mind and heart." I think this includes clearing our minds and hearts of preconceived notions, past experiences, excuses, and such, so we can be open to correction and new knowledge.

"Third, we must be obedient to the instruction we receive." It doesn't do us any good to ask for instruction if we aren't going to follow it. "Becoming teachable is a process of learning line upon line. In this process we convert thoughts and feelings into actions." I love that! And finally, ". . . we shall discover that the things we value and appreciate most are those that we personally learned from the Lord." Amen to that. What I've remembered the longest is what I learned while studying the scriptures myself.

Insight from a Christmas Book

Yesterday in Relief Society, the President shared a favorite Christmas story called A Christmas Dress for Ellen. After she read it to us she shared her testimony and then opened the time up to the sisters in the room. As we sat there for a few moments in contemplative silence a thought flashed through my mind.

The mother in the story wrote a letter and asked her family so humbly for a few things to work with to make the lives of her children better. She didn’t ask for great riches, but old items she could use to work with to accomplish the needed tasks. Her loving family responded with ten crates of riches, new and beautiful. The thought I had was that Heavenly Father is like that. When we pray and humbly ask for something he responds with riches we didn’t imagine. His plan is always better than ours; his goodness exceeds our expectations. He loves us more than we can understand.