The Humility of a Horse

I have been studying on humility my entire mission, as it is an attribute I know I lack. Yet, every time I come close to feeling like I understand humility I recognize a new facet to it that I didn't see before and the study continues.

Recently though, I was thinking about attributes of a horse: strong, intelligent, powerful. Yet, the best horse is one that will submit to it's master. What really makes a good horse is humility.

English author John Ruskin once wrote, "the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean, by humility, doubt of his own power. … [But really] great men … have a curious … feeling that … greatness is not in them, but through them. … And they see something Divine … in every other man … , and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful." (To Walk Humbly with Thy God) 

When discussing the attribute of humility with a friend, she pointed out that "humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking less about yourself." When we degrade ourselves it is more a form of pride than humility.

On further study I also discovered the tie between faith and humility. Faith is knowing that God has a plan for us, while humility is submitting to that plan. Likewise, we can have hope that God's plan will be for our good.

The attribute of humility is an attribute of power. Just as a horse is more powerful as it yields to it's master. Bishop Edgley once said "Humbly submitting our will to the Father brings us the empowerment of God—the power of humility. It is the power to meet life’s adversities, the power of peace, the power of hope, the power of a heart throbbing with a love for and testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ, even the power of redemption."(The Empowerment of Humility)

Humility is power and I invite you to work towards being humble; it's something we each must work at everyday. Then, once you realize you have obtained it, strive again to get it back.

...With Worry

"Fret not thyself because of evildoers..." Psalm 37:1

I tend to worry too much. So I thought I'd blog on something for me and all the other worry warts out there.

Jospeh B. Worthlin said, "When we worry about the future, we create unhappiness in the present. Righteous concern may lead us to take appropriate action, but worrying about things we cannot control can paralyze and demoralize us.

Instead of worrying, focus on doing all that you can, and then leave the worrying to your Heavenly Father. If your heart is right with Him, He will take care of the worry and the fear. We must learn to 'fret not.'"

Nothing good comes out of worry. I think of times in my life where I get worked up with worry and before long am nauseous, unable to do much. Usually I find that whatever I am worrying about works itself out or wasn't as bad as I thought.

J. Spencer Kinard explained that "someone has mathematically calculated that forty percent of our worries will never materialize; thirty percent deal with old decisions that cannot be changed; twelve percent focus on criticism that is mostly untrue; ten percent deal with our health, which only worsens when we worry; and only eight percent are legitimate. The point we would make is that life does have real problems that may be met head-on when we eliminate useless and senseless worry." 

But how do we deal with worry? We turn to the Lord. Show our trust through earnest prayer and scripture study. In Psalm 37 David teaches that to actively pray we need to stop worrying and put our faith in God. Fear, or worry, can't exsist in the same realm as faith.

I once had a friend who knew how much I worried. When he saw me worrying over something he would stop me and remind me, "Why is this important? What is more important? What will worrying do to fix this?" That self reflection has made so much difference in my life.

So before you worry, stop for a moment and ask yourself the same thing. Turn to the Lord, let him take your worries from you, and put your full faith in Him, who died for every care and worry.

...With Building Faith

As I was reading in the Book of Mormon I came across this verse:

"For the brother of Jared said unto the mountain Zerin, Remove—and it was removed. And if he had not had faith it would not have moved; wherefore thou workest after men have faith." (Ether 12:30)

I thought that was pretty cool: the brother of Jared moved a mountain! I'd aspire to move as much as an ant hill! Can you imagine how much faith it would take to create such a miracle? I doubt there are many people out there that have that much faith. So, how did the brother of Jared do it?

Earlier in the book we read about the family of the brother of Jared. As the Lord confounded the languages at the tower of Babel, the brother of Jared prayed that his family would be kept safe. God led them to a beautiful area, rich in the resources they needed. His family was there for four years when the Lord came again and "for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord." (Ether 2:14)

The brother of Jared, a prophet of God, had a time of weakness. For four years he didn't trust in God or turn to Him for direction. But, rather than fall back into making that same mistake, he corrected his wrong and worked hard to build his strength in God. Then, after what I'm sure took a lot of work and time, the brother of Jared eventually built enough faith that he saw Jesus Christ in the flesh and even had enough faith to move a mountain! What an incredible example of making "weak things become strong." (Ether 12:27)