I Wanna Be Like You

I love watching my kids and their different personalities.  It's fun to see them interact with each other (most of the time).  The most interesting relationship, to me, is the one between my two younger sons.  There is a five year difference between them, which sometimes causes some friction, but most of the time they're really good buddies.  In fact, these two have shared a room since before my youngest son could even walk.  They've always had bunk beds, but have almost always ended up sleeping in the same bed.  I could often hear the older brother reading to his baby brother after they'd been sent to bed.  They still, to this day, won't go to bed unless the other one is going.  I love it.

Yesterday, my youngest son had to give a talk in Primary.  Here's part of what he said:

"This is a picture of me with my big brother.  I try to do everything that he does.  I also do almost anything he tells me to do, and he usually likes that.  Sometimes he gets annoyed with me because I follow him around.  But I only do this because I love him so much and want to be just like him.

There is another older brother that I love very much.  His name is Jesus Christ.  I also want to be just like Him.  In the same way that I follow my big brother around and do what he does, I can also follow Jesus' example to become like Him."

How true that is!  All throughout the scriptures, we are told of Jesus' attributes and that we must strive to be like Him.  Just yesterday, I posted about receiving His image in our countenances.  In today's reading, Alma spoke about how we can do that:

And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.(Alma 7:23-24) 

 I love that last part - "and then ye will always abound in good works".  There are days that I really struggle to maintain my composure.  I'm crabby and moody and I snap at the people I love without much provocation.  Perhaps, next to the grocery list and the "to do" list on my refrigerator, I need to have a "to be" list.  It would look something like this:

• Be humble and submissive and gentle
• Be easy to be entreated
• Be full of patience and long-suffering
• Be temperate
• Be diligent in keeping the commandments at all times
• Be grateful
• Be faithful
• Be hopeful
• Be charitable

 

If I could spend some time each day on my "To Be" list, I wouldn't have much time or energy "To Be" anything else - crabby or moody or snappy.  I would be more like Jesus Christ.

 

Looking at that picture of my sons,  a song from the Disney movie "Jungle Book" keeps running through my head.  "I wanna be like you.  I wanna walk like you, talk like you, too.  You see it's true, someone like me can learn to be like someone like you."

The same is true for my relationship with Jesus Christ.  I do want to be like Him.  I want to walk like Him and talk like Him.  With effort and diligence, someone like me can learn "To Be" someone like Him.

Click here to read what I read today: Alma 7