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| ©Darrell Wyatt |
I have a vinyl quote on the wall of my entry way:
This time, like all times, is a very good one
if you know what to do with it.
It has gotten me through some pretty rough times by making me look past the hurt or discomfort of the moment to find the lesson that I need to learn from each particular situation. It seems like when I'm at a low point, I am much more apt to turn to my Heavenly Father for guidance and comfort. When things are going well, and I don't have a lot to worry about, those are the times where I sometimes forget to turn to God, even in gratitude, and the humbling starts.
...for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; (Alma 32:13)
You'd think that after all these years, I would just learn my lesson. If I stay humble always, there will be no need for God to humble me.
And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word?(Alma 32:14)
Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble...(Alma 32:16)
I have so much to be grateful for. It's easy to forget that when things seem to be going my way, it's not because of anything that I've done, but because I am being blessed by the Lord. On the other hand, when things are not going the way that I'd like them to, it is not that the Lord is withholding His blessings from me. I am just being blessed in a different way. The responsibility to figure out what that blessing is lies with me. Sometimes I don't have to look far at all to find it, and other times I have to dig pretty deeply. But the blessing is always there. I just need to know what to do with it.
Your blog just remeinded me of this quote from CS Lewis:
ReplyDelete“…The most alarming thing in your last account of the patient is that he is making none of those confident resolutions which marked his original conversion….I see only one thing to do at the moment. Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, “By jove! I’m being humble”, and almost immediately pride—pride at his own humility—will appear. If he awakes to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt—and so on, through as many stages as you please. But don’t try this too long, for fear you awake his sense of humor and proportion, in which case he will merely laugh at you and go to bed…
…You must therefore conceal from the patient the true end of Humility. Let him think of it not as self-forgetfulness but as a certain kind of opinion (namely, a low opinion) of his own talents and character….By this method thousands of humans have been brought to think that humility means pretty women trying to believe they are ugly and clever men trying to believe they are fools…and we have the chance of keeping their minds endlessly revolving on themselves in an effort to achieve the impossible.” (C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters)
Love that!
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