Today in church we had a joint 3rd hour meeting with all the men and women. One of the counselors in the Bishopric lead the discussion. We started out by hearing a little about the welfare program of the church, then discussed other things.
He asked something to the effect of "What does "Pride" look like in the church?" I commented that it was not allowing others to serve you, when you are in need. I know this from experience.
A long story short.... when I had Jace the RS President, insisted that we had meals brought in. I said no (again... I said no with Kade too). This time she asked why, and I told her the experience I had with Abigail. She said that she could guarantee that we would not have spaghetti, but that I needed to let the sisters in the ward serve me. By my refusing of meals, I was withholding blessings from the sisters in my ward and that I was being prideful....so I let the sisters in my ward serve me and bring in dinners for a couple of nights. Was I being prideful? Maybe.
Sometimes it is hard to decide what is pride and what is happiness. Sometimes we have too many "good" choices. Sometimes we need to take a look at where we are headed and make a decision in our life. This picture that Mike took of Jace back in February, reminds me of that. Sometimes we wobble on our path, but we need to keep going. We will get there.
Someone else brought up that they never say to their kids "I am Proud of You." That this is being prideful. Maybe I am wrong, but I think that praising your children and being "proud" of them, is a lot different that being prideful. I say often that I am proud to be a mom, or that I am proud to be a member of the true church of Christ on the earth. Is that being prideful?
Here are some definitions I found for "pride"
-a feeling of self-respect and personal worth
-satisfaction with your (or another's) achievements; "he takes pride in his son's success"
-unreasonable and inordinate self-esteem (personified as one of the deadly sins)
I know that there is a difference in being proud of your children and being to prideful (as described above as a "deadly sin") to ask for help when you need it. Maybe I should say I am glad to be a mom... nope... that just does not work. I am proud to be a mom, a wife and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It gives me a sense of dignity and self respect when I can be proud of something or someone.
That is my 2 cents for today!
3 comments:
Pride . . . a very complex word & emotion. On my mission I had a member tell me I was prideful and she gave me a copy of President Benson's talk on "Pride" (excellent talk by the way)and you know what after I read it I realized she is right. I have since learned that pride is the opposite of charity; the pure love of Christ. The two cannot exsist at the same time, so if we are not filled with charity we are filled with pride. Just my two cents to add toyour two cents (hey now there is four). :)
I think you are right when it comes to telling our kids we are proud of them, I do not think that is prideful. We should always tell our kids how we feel about what they are doing...right or wrong. I think pride comes into play when people "boast" about how great their kids are in comparision to eveyone else's child. I do agree with Jill that pride is not charity, and sometimes we can get caught up in how our lives are "so great and wonderful" so we must be doing everything right, sucks to be those people whose lives are not going so good, etc. I think everyone has the chance to enhance someone's life, not just their own. But it takes looking "outside the box" so to speak.
Good perspective Kasey..really got me thinking=-)
brandi
thanks for your thoughts, Yes, I have to watch and be careful about being prideful. If a person thinks they are not prideful, then they are. Loved all of the 2 cents, and 2 cents, and 2 cents more. Grockma
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