Apr
15
pride
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In keeping with my spiritual theme for writing on Sunday . . . I had the opportunity today to speak in our Sacrament service. I say “opportunity” because it truly was. Public speaking is the number one fear of people in general. Growing up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) I’ve had the opportunity to speak in front of audiences of varying sizes since I was four years old. Through no doing of my own, the fear of speaking in front of an audience isn’t something I have to deal with. Therefore, I was able to concentrate more fully on the topic for which I was preparing. How grateful I am. A couple weeks ago, while I was listening to General Conference, I had a thought enter my mind as to the topic I should address. In short . . . it was pride. My main resource for the talk I gave was a talk given by President Ezra Taft Benson in 1989 titled Beware of Pride. Another talk I used as source material for my talk was given in 1992 by Elder Dallin H. Oaks titled Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall.
While reading these talks and the scriptures, I was humbled. There are so many things I need to eliminate from my life. When preparing a talk or lesson, I always feel an unfair advantage. I always get more out of the preparation than anyone in the audience will ever gain from my presentation of the topic. Pride has truly become a device of destruction in our world. Lives, marriages, communities, and nations have fallen to the destructive force of pride. I’m going to share a few of my favorite points from Beware of Pride:
Fear of men’s judgment manifests itself in competition for men’s approval. The proud love “the praise of men more than the praise of God.” Our motives for the things we do are where the sin is manifest. Jesus said He did “always those things” that pleased God. Would we not do well to have the pleasing of God as our motive rather than to try to elevate ourselves above our brother and outdo another?
This is so evident in the world around us. Co-workers going to any length in order to “look good” to their superiors. Honesty, sincerity, and integrity are replaced by a cutthroat desire to climb the ladder at any cost. Worrying about what the crowd will think if a decision made is “against the grain” leads to a loss of what truly makes us great!
Another point I loved from Beware of Pride was:
Another face of pride is contention. Arguments, fights, unrighteous dominion, generation gaps, divorces, spouse abuse, riots, and disturbances all fall into this category of pride.
Contention in our families drives the Spirit of the Lord away. It also drives many of our family members away. Contention ranges from a hostile spoken word to worldwide conflicts. The scriptures tell us that “only by pride cometh contention.†(Prov. 13:10; see also Prov. 28:25.)
This pretty much sums it up. There’s not much more I can add to that. In preparing my talk, I’ve become more resolved to eliminate the awful faces of pride from my life. I’ve experienced times in my life where I don’t think pride was prevalent and I’ve experienced times in my life where pride ruled . . . I prefer the former. We live in an incredible world . . . beautiful beyond description . . . how much greater could it be . . . without pride?
I’m going to close this entry with a scripture from the Book of Mormon. It is found in Alma 7:23:
. . . 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.
What more can I say?
Mar
25
on a spiritual note
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As today is Sunday, I’ve decided to write in more of a Spiritual tone. Then, in trying to figure out what I should write about, I decided upon our church experience on this island. Before I go on, I guess I should give you a little background on our family as relating to Spiritual matters. Emily and I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The church is also known as the “Mormon” church or the “L.D.S.” church. More information about the church can be found at www.mormon.org. We were very excited to experience attending church in another part of the world. We both grew up in Utah. I lived in San Jose, Ca for a couple of years during my early teens and served a mission in Los Angeles, Ca between the ages of 19 and 21. Roughly five years after Emily and I were married, we moved to the Dallas area in Texas. So, we’ve experienced a few parts of the country.
The church was a large factor in deciding where to attend medical school. We hoped to attend where an established unit of the church would be found, but also wanted to attend the right school for me. Preliminarily, I had researched all the islands on which I applied to school. St. Maarten has a branch (small congregation) of the church. Dominica (pronounced Domineeka) also has a branch established. However, on Saba, the church had no official or unofficial presence I was able to discover. Through a course of pros and cons, pondering, and prayer . . . we decided Saba had the best school for my style of learning. This would definitely offer a unique Spiritual experience.
When I arrived on Saba, I expected to have church by myself in my living room until Emily arrived. I shortly found out this was not the case. Serendipitously, the current president of the spouse’s organization tracked me down the day after I arrived on Saba. She had heard from our friends who had arrived a week before us that we were originally from Utah. It turned out she and her family were L.D.S. as well. She told me about the small group of members who meet on a weekly basis in one of their homes. I was excited about the opportunity to worship with others of the same faith. There is much strength which comes from worshiping together.
We generally have 10 to 15 people attend services each Sunday. The presiding authority for our group is the President of the Trinidad and Tobago Mission. He and his wife visited near the end of September, 2006. One of the local ladies, Coleen Hassell, (now Hulbert), who was also attending the university was baptized. The baptism was a wonderful Spiritual experience and we were all very happy for Coleen. The mission President told us there was a very special Spirit about this little group on Saba. I share his sentiments. I value the ability to look around the room and know everyone very well. In our previous wards (congregations) there have been between 150 to 400 people. This made it very difficult to get to know everyone well. As we progress through our time on Saba, we often think about things we will miss. Worshiping with this small group of Saints is among the top. Having this group has been invaluable to us while living out of the country. In a different land, with a different culture, there is one thing which remains the same. No matter where you go in all the world . . . the Spirit of the Saints remains the same. This has eased much of the trepidation of the uncertainty of where we will be living for clinical rotations. Again, no matter where we go . . . we will have an instant family in the members of the church. I love the Lord. I am grateful for the experiences He has provided my family as we have progressed throughout this life and look forward to the many rich experiences the future holds. Until next time . . .