August Newsletter....2009

PRIDE VS HUMILITY....
Every now and then I get feeling pretty proud of what I've accomplished with some little thing or another then something else happens to bring me back to earth quickly and remind me that for everything that has happened in my life for the good I have had a lot of help, but I can only blame myself for those things where I've fallen short and not done so great. I find that when I'm proud of others for their accomplishments or when my heart is filled with humility and gratitude for the things I have been able to do with the help of Heavenly Father and those family members and friends around me, I feel the greatest satisfaction.

I've learned that being prideful often leads to being judgmental...a trait that we certainly don't want to fall into the trap of. At times we feel that we are doing pretty good, we are doing our daily activities with success, we feel that we are a contributing member of society and doing some good. If we are reading the scriptures, praying, attending our church meetings, etc., we have a feeling of well being and that all is going well. When we start feeling that we are just a notch above another, we need to think again. I remember my Dad saying, "There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it doesn't behoove any of us to criticize the rest of us." We need to be so careful not to let pride creep into our minds and become judgmental.

Several years ago we had invited a friend to have the missionary lessons. At that time there were stake missionaries and holding that calling two older men came over to our home to teach this friend about the gospel. One of the men was so humble and sweet that his demeanor touched both my husband and I and the friend. This man was teaching a certain principle of the gospel and I thought was doing a fine job, but he stopped and said something like this, "Im sorry I want my companion to explain this , he does so much better than I, it's so important that you understand and I do mainly because of his teachings to me." At the end of the lesson this man bore the most beautiful testimony of the gospel and how important it was in his life that I will never forget the feelings we had at that meeting. The spirit was strong because of a humble servant of the Lord.

On our recent trip to the Holy Land we had a good man, one of the leaders of the group, who was so knowledgable and taught us so much and who had just such a humble nature. I don't know how one cultivates that ability, it must be one of those personality traits that are a part of the makeup a person is born with. At any rate, we learned so much from this man and I continue to learn as I visit his web site. He has a collection of much of the work he has done as a researcher for the church on his web site. It includes much of the ancient records and writings that were sifted through when the Bible was first written. When the decision was made what to include in it, there were many writings left out. I can see why as I read them, many of them are wordy and difficult to read, however some are amazing. I was thrilled to read two of the ancient books about Mary's passing. They tell of the time Mary, mother of Jesus, passed away, and of the miracles surrounding that time. You can read the "passing of Mary" in the web site: www.bhporter.com
It is found by clicking on the extra biblical teachings, then under the apocrypha section, scroll down to the acts section, then to the "passing of Mary" book. I didn't start out planning to put this information in the newsletter, but thinking of the humble nature of the man who shared this information with us, it has followed to pass it along.

There are numerous scriptures telling us about humility and pride. One covers both: Matthew
23:12, "And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that is humble himself shall be exalted." There is a beautiful song in our hymn book that deals with the subject. "Be thou humble in they weakness and the Lord thy God shall lead thee, shall lead thee by the hand and give thee answers to thy prayers. Be thou humble in thy pleading and the Lord, thy God shall bless thee, shall bless thee with a sweet and calm assurance that he cares."

As we associate with those around us, it is interesting the personality traits of individuals. When we are in the company of someone who is humble and sweet in nature, they bring a peace and a comfort which radiates the atmosphere while you are with them. While you are ready to end the conversation with a prideful person and escape, you are attracted to stay and hesitant to end the conversation when in the company of the humble. Can we cultivate an attitude of humility and avoid the trappings of being prideful? Let's try to invite those traits into our personality this month as we focus on being more humble and less prideful. With love, Maurine Winters