Humility

Today as I was reading chapter 15 of the Book of Ether, which is located in the Book of Mormon, I learned a great lesson about humility. The Book of Ether is filled with war. Brother against brother, father against son, endless war with great destruction. Here are the first 4 verses of the 15th chapter of Ether:

 1 And it came to pass when Coriantumr had recovered of his wounds, he began to remember the words which Ether had spoken unto him.

 2 He saw that there had been slain by the sword already nearly two millions of his people, and he began to sorrow in his heart; yea, there had been slain two millions of mighty men, and also their wives and their children.

 3 He began to repent of the evil which he had done; he began to remember the words which had been spoken by the mouth of all the prophets, and he saw them that they were fulfilled thus far, every whit; and his soul mourned and refused to be comforted.

 4 And it came to pass that he wrote an epistle unto Shiz, desiring him that he would spare the people, and he would give up the kingdom for the sake of the lives of the people.

I was in awe reading the book of Ether. How could the peoples' hearts be so hard? How could they not see the prophesies that were coming to pass? Finally, after the deaths of two million people, Coriantumr realized his pride. He was compelled to be humble. He endured great sorrow because his eyes were opened to his sins and the effects his selfishness had on the lives of others. Then my thoughts came to an abrupt halt. Do I sin? Have I been compelled to humility? Am I selfish? The answer is yes. I do sin. I am selfish, and I have been compelled to be humble several times in my life.

I began to wonder, "Have I let my equivalent of two million people die due to my pride?" I often find myself being enlightened to my selfishness and pride. An argument arises, I feel angry more often, I begin to blame others, I find myself wasting countless hours on unimportant tasks. These are several cues to me that I am hardening my heart. It shouldn't take me getting in an argument to realize that I am not humble. It shouldn't take two million peoples' lives for us to realize that we need to change the focus of our minds and hearts. But yet it still happens.

We are not perfect. And that is okay. Jesus Christ is perfect. He has made it possible for us to repent when we get stuck in the pride of the world. He helps us to realize when we are straying from humility, and then guides us back to the straight and narrow path leading to exaltation. I am grateful for our Savior, a perfect example of humility, and I hope that I can work herder to become more like Him.

The Family

It has been almost exactly 2 years since I have posted to this blog. I hope to post more regularly so that I can feel like I am actually giving something of worth to the cyber world. Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles recently gave a fantastic devotional entitled "To Sweet the Earth as With a Flood." In this message Elder Bednar encourages us to poor out more good, uplifting, and spiritual messages on social media. He stated not to do it just as an every now and again thing, but to flood social media constantly with that which is good.

I  have been thinking a lot more lately about social media, and how I spend my time on it. Well, here is the truth. I WASTE way too much time on social media for no gain, and I do not add anything of worth to it. Yes, I do think it is a great, easy way to stay in touch with friends and family, but I am spending too much time scrolling through purposeless feeds that do not uplift me or make me a better person. This poor habit has started to seep into my family and my relationships. I find myself picking up my phone all too often to scroll through the new posts. Even when I am spending time with my husband, I find myself turning my phone on and going to Facebook purely out of habit.

THIS NEEDS TO STOP!

It is time for me to take my uplifting posts from a trickle to a roar. It is time to share good. It is time to put off my poor habits and become a woman of worth. A woman of Strength. An elect lady. It is time for me to become more alert to the needs of my family. It is time to be a better child of God.

Elder Bednar mentioned that in order to flood the internet with goodness, we do not have to be elaborate and have lengthy, well though out posts. Simply sharing a video, posting a picture, and using a few words to uplift is sufficient to invite the spirit. This was very encouraging to me, because often I feel like I need to have an eloquent speech written in order to share the gospel on social media. The truth is, my words will not touch the lives of others, but the spirit will. As long as I am sharing good messages, the spirit will direct the rest.

Today I wanted to share a small message that will be a little more lengthy, but that is because I have thoughts I just really want to share about "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." I have been reading the "Daughters in My Kingdom" book and have been so inspired by the history of the Relief Society. Today I discovered that the Family Proclamation was first read in public at a General Relief Society meeting. President James E. Faust stated about this particular event, "Because you mothers are the heart and soul of any family, it was appropriate that it [the proclamation] was first read in the general Relief Society meeting."

This is so amazing! The family unit really is the greatest foundation to a successful society. Heavenly Father knows that women are crucial to raising righteous families who are productive members of society. That is why women were the first to hear the proclamation. We women have been entrusted with a privileged duty to protect and guide our families as equals along side our husbands.

I feel empowered to be a woman, and to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Currently there is a lot of questioning about the equality of men and women in the church. Different movements have been activated by women not feeling as though they were equal to the men of the church.

For me, I feel more than equal. Christ speaks of women with such love and reverence. Women hold callings in this church to teach. Many other religions are only taught by men. I have always felt like my opinion and insight among church members has been valued. I have access to all of the blessings of the priesthood. And then learning that the proclamation was first presented to the women of the church just solidified and reaffirmed that women are equal to men in the church.

I know that I am a woman of purpose on this earth. I can do so much good in the world. I feel blessed to be a divine daughter of our Heavenly Father. And I know that He loves me.