Keeping An Eternal Perspective

I just went visiting teaching today and as part of the lesson Henry B. Eyring says:
"The purpose of God's creations and of His giving us life is to allow us to have the learning experiences necessary for us to come back to Him, to live with Him in eternal life. That is only possible if we have our natures changed through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (despite hard stuff), true repentance, and making and keeping the covenants He offers all of his Father's children through His Church."
This reminded me of Helaman 15:3 …they have been a chosen people of the Lord; yea, the people of Nephi hath he loved, and also hath he chastened them; yea, in the days of their iniquities hath he chastened them because he loveth them.
Then this reminded me of a conference talk given a few years ago where they quoted Brigham Young. It was something to the effect of… Every trial that we experience in this life is essential for our salvation.
So I guess what I am trying to say is that Heavenly Father loves us so he has given us a way to return to him. Even if it means a little heart ache; whether it’s a natural consequence for poor choices or something that just can’t be avoided like the loss of a loved one. We need to remain faithful even when it’s hard and try to see the purpose behind the trial. Heavenly Father doesn’t give us trials for no reason. There is always a little progression to be had. I can only pray that when “the mighty winds” come my way that I can remain steadily grounded in my faith in Jesus Christ and find the purpose of the trial.

Pride - No Good

After reading the scriptures quite a bit, I can't help but feel that pride is the path to all wickedness. Whether is just a small sin like thinking something negative about someone or something large like committing murder or worse. Pride is a toxic attribute that when we see it in our hearts we NEED to remove it as soon as possible. The best way to do that is to go in humility to our savior and ask for forgiveness.

I had an experience lately that I am ashamed of. I was starting to get prideful in my heart and then it started to become an outward attribute. There was a little drama in a family in our ward that I was beginning to gossip about. Not to anyone that actually knows the family, but to a friend of mine and to my family. One day something happened and I just felt terrible. I was worried that I had offended someone, I was ashamed of the way I was acting, & in short I was not being a disciple of Christ. It was a real eye opener to just how prideful I was getting. Luckily there is the atonement that brought about a true change of heart. It is amazing how well a humble, sincere prayer to our Father in Heaven works to purge sin from our hearts. Without getting too specific, I have since learned that my opinion doesn't matter. I don't have any right to judge the situation and my job is to just love them.

So I guess now the question is, How do we avoid pride so that it doesn't consume our hearts?
1- Bryan says that service is key. In Mosiah 4:15 it says
But ye will teach them (your children) to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.
I take this to mean that if you want to learn to love someone you must serve them. Maybe that's why we love our family's so much. We spend our life serving them.
2 - Stay grounded in the gospel. I think that it is a lot harder to become prideful when the gospel is your first priority.
3 - Deny yourself of something. It helps to build our self control and will power. Maybe that's one of the reasons why we do fast Sunday every month.

I'm sure there are more ways to prevent pride, but I am pretty sure that my 1.5 year old is into something messy. If you have any more ideas, please leave a comment and share you thoughts!

Pray

Wherefore, my beloved sons (or daughters), pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons or daughters of God; that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as He is pure. Amen”
Moroni 7:48

I chose this scripture to put on a bookmark for my Activity Day girls to help them remember that they should be praying everyday, especially before they read the scriptures. I hope it will help.

If you know of any better prayer scriptures, please, let me know! I just really want to motivate them to read!