HUMILITY 3

 

In Humility Our Savior by Jay Bryant Ward

It seems I cannot stop writing about this subject.

My close friend commented on one of my posts recently and pointed out how well it was done. I replied: “Of course it was because I’m a super-duper writer, a scriptorian and a spiritual giant!!! And the humility is off the charts!!!”  

We both laughed but the reality is that I AM a good writer because I went to the University and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English; I AM a scriptorian, a miniature one but nevertheless….because I have studied the scriptures intently for the past 30 years; and I AM a spiritual giant because I have a gravitational pull towards the truth and anything of the spirit. I live for all three so I should by all means excel in all three.

Let me explain why this is important to me. I have come to my 60s feeling very inadequate about myself. I have written before about the reality of my upbringing in poverty in a socialist country. I was brought up with an ingrained idea that I am not as good as my friends who came from better households because their parents belonged to the communist party and were privy to jobs others could never get. Added to this was my generational poverty from ancestors who lived under the feudal system with overlords who subjected them to the idea that they can never rise above servitude. All this had an impact on me.

Fast forward to the age I became a member of Christ’s Church and His avid disciple at the age of 18. Since then my eyes have been opened to who I am and who I have always been as I have studied the teachings of the Church and the scriptures, endured many trials and difficulties which afforded growth and learning, and have had many revelations and insights into my pre-earth life and my character. I am daring to trust that I am much more than I was raised to believe.

I wrote in a previous post about the Saviour’s necessity to proclaim who He is, and to make His godly attributes and traits known, so that we can have faith in His saving power. Never at any time when I have read the scriptures did I get the impression that He was doing so out of pride. He was simply saying, this is who I am, believe in me.

We should, like Him, follow suit in recognizing our innate qualities and our growth. Most especially, following Christ and having a close relationship with Him, should lift us higher than our earthly flaws and humanity. We need to stand on higher ground so that we are able to lift others, like He has done. Humility should be just another attribute that we can be endowed with as we strive to become like Him.

Paul who called himself ‘the least of the apostles’ and the ‘chief of the sinners’ (1 Cor 15:9; 1 Timothy 1:15), became the greatest missionary in history because he knew who made a new person out of him and therefore he could say: “…but by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor 15:10)

Humility springs in my heart

Like a well overflowing

With life giving water;

It quells the pride of my soul

And helps me see

I could never be the Me;

But for Thy grace

And Thy devotion

To make of me what   

I am meant to be. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

GIFTS TO MOTHERS

 

In the Arms of His Love by Greg Olsen

What are children to a mother

If not gifts from heaven’s door;

As jewels from God’s own bosom

Gifted to her heart forever more.

Entrusted with the greatest charge

Sealed with hope of tender care;

From His hands

To mothers given

As gifts of worth beyond compare.

-       CATHRYNE ALLEN

MAN OF HAPPINESS

 

Joy of the Lord by Greg Olsen

"I am perfectly satisfied that my Father and my God is a cheeful, pleasant, lively and good-natured Being. Why? Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured when I have His Spirit. That is one reason why I know; and another is - the Lord said, through Joseph Smith, "I delight in a glad heart and a cheerful countenance." That arises from the perfection of His attributes; He is a jovial, lively person, and a beautiful man."  (President Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 4:222)

"The plan of happiness, which is spoken about so often in the Church today, comes from a "Man of Happiness" as well as a "Man of Holiness". Our developing faith comes as we understand better the purpose of the scriptures, and that is to teach us the nature of a saved being, he who beckons us to become like him."

- Jerry A. Wilson, "The Great Plan of Happiness - Insights from the Lectures on Faith" p 37

How can I tell you

What my mortal lips cannot say?

How can I show you

What my mortal heart cannot hold?

All that I feel

And all that I am

I owe to you,

My God,

My Exemplar,

My all.  

 - Cathryne Allen 

THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH

 

The Color of Butterfly Wings by LDS Bookstore

His gift, the beauty of the earth,

To soften the blow of turbulence

So relentlessly near;

With every movement of the trees

And the rustle of its leaves,

He whispers:

“I am here”

 

-       CATHRYNE ALLEN

ON SACRIFICE

 

"The World" by LDS Bookstore

“For a man to lay down his all, his (1) character and reputation, his honour, and applause, his good name among men, (2) houses, his lands, his (3) brothers and sisters, his wife and children and even his (4) own life also….requires more than mere belief or supposition that he is doing the will of God; but actual knowledge, realizing that, when these sufferings are ended; he will enter into eternal rest, and be a partaker of the glory of God” (Jerry A. Wilson, Lecture 6:5, The Great Plan of Happiness, Insights From the Lectures on Faith, p 68)

Just as the Saviour paid an enormous price for the gift of eternal life that is on offer to all of us, we are asked to sacrifice our all here in mortality, to basically become like Him and be worthy of such a gift.

Paul called all things that he sacrificed and walked away from ‘but filth and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ’. A real Jew, circumcised, of the stock of Israel, a Pharisee of the tribe of Benjamin, as he called himself (Philippians 3:5,8; Romans 11:1), walked away from his Jewish upbringing, family, lucrative career, and social standing amongst the Romans, and chose to believe in the gifts of eternity.

As well defined as the path of sacrifice is in the above quote, I wish to write about another form of sacrifice and that is the sacrifice of ego and self-importance because I believe this is the power base of all other forms of sacrifice. This is the root out of which all forms of sacrifice can grow.

I have a friend currently on vacation in Bali. She has been very impressed with the people’s kindness and helpfulness. She has learnt a lot of their customs, among which is the traditional responsibility among Balinese people to care for their aging parents. She found it amazing that ‘the poorer they are, the more caring and loving they are.

I replied to her that it is a proven truth that when you are not spoilt and encumbered by the comforts and luxuries of the world, you care about things that truly matter much easier and better. I also pointed out that we are so intent on ‘having things’ and we do not realize how that pursuit encourages and motivates self-importance to the detriment of the important things like giving of yourself to others which is one of the sacrifices we are asked to make.

We live in a world of ego called “me, myself and I”. Somehow, we have lost the sight of sacrifice as we seek to elevate ourselves instead. The nature of our world is undergirded by possession of worldly things, of houses and lands, of honour and applause. We cannot survive without two incomes, professional unfulfillment, a house in a well to do neighbourhood, private schools, latest cars…..and so called holidays essential for our mental health.

While Balinese people live on scooters from the age of 17 and care for their aging family members, a lot of us are relying on aged care homes to care for our parents and grandparents so we can ‘get on with our lives’.  

If we are to secure that gift of eternal life by emulating the life of Him who can give it to us, we need to place the self on the altar of sacrifice more often that we do as sacrifice of self reveals the face of eternity and the view is glorious because of the greatest sacrifice there ever was:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

HIS EARTHLY SUFFERING

 

No Greater Love by Adam Abram

I heard You in my heart today

And all You tried so hard to say.

My soul split open and I could see

What You suffered in Gethsemane.

 

My tears spilled and climbed that hill

Where Your suffering increased yet still.

My sorrow spilt, I saw my guilt

As You absolved me on that cross of Calvary

 

When one day soon again we meet

I will sorrow at Your feet.

My hands raw from clutching still

That gruesome cross of Calvary.

 

You have my heart,

You have my soul,

My purchased self is Yours to own.

In my memory, Your blood runs still

On that ruthless hill of Calvary.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

HUMILITY 2

 

My Teacher by Chris Brazelton

When Moses went up to Mount Sinai for the second time with new plates the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there and proclaimed His name:

“And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin….” (Exodus 34:4-7)

There is real significance in this. When God restores or renews covenants, He reveals himself by confirming His impeccable character so His people can know Him, trust Him and follow Him. In other words, He is saying, this is who I am, who you are covenanting with. It is meant to build faith in people and invite them back into a real relationship with Him. In this instance, Israel had broken the covenant by worshipping the golden calf.

The Gospel of John records Christ’s proclamations of who He is which identifies Him as the Saviour of all mankind. These proclamations are known as the “7 I AMs:

·         I am the bread of life (6:31,51)

·         I am the light of the world (8:12)

·         I am the door of the sheep (10:7,9)

·         I am the good shepherd (10:11,14)

·         I am the resurrection and life (11:25)

·         I am the way, the truth and the life (14:6)

·         I am the true vine (15:1,5)

I have often been amazed at the confidence with which Jesus proclaimed Himself as the Messiah. The Jews expected Him to come in the clouds of glory, not through the stench of a stable. Judging Him to be a mere mortal led some to say that He was mad because of these proclamations (John 10:20) and some that he was possessed of a devil (John 8:48; 8:52; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15). But imagine if He didn’t openly proclaim what He was like and what He had to offer as the Saviour of the world. Who would have had faith in Him if He held back and denied His attributes and characteristics and His role in the human experience? How blind the people of Jesus’s time were not to see that His confidence was grounded in humility and not pride.

Sometimes we are reluctant to vocalise our good qualities for fear that people will consider us prideful. Martin Luther said: “True humility does not know that it is humble. If it did, it would be proud from the contemplation of so fine a virtue.” I do not completely agree with this statement.  We are told that humility is the mother of virtues and rightly so but I wonder if we know how to properly appreciate it for our benefit.

There is one person we should affirm our humility to and that is ourselves. There would have to be a day when our trials and obedience have humbled us enough to be able to say to ourselves: I am humble enough to be corrected, I am humble enough to admit I am wrong, I am humble enough to be teachable, I am humble enough to be chastised, I am humble enough to receive instruction, to be taught, to receive help, to apologise, to correct a wrong, to make restitution when I have caused damage. I love a person who can say, “when I’m wrong, I’m wrong”….We should be able to acknowledge humility within us when it is for our benefit and the benefit of our fellowman.

The Book of Mormon tells us that humility before God will grant us these four things (Mosiah 4:12-13):

·         We will be filled with the love of God;

·         We will grow in knowledge of Him’

·         We will retain a remission of our sins;

·         We will love our fellowman

We want this, don’t we? So the commitment should be: I choose to be humble enough to believe in a higher power than myself, to be taught about Him, to obey Him, to amend my ways and recognize I am no better than my fellowman. That’s humility – minimizing self-importance and finding a healthy place for it on your priority list.

One man in the scriptures who knew full well who he was, what he became and by what power he got there was Paul who said: “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am…..” (1 Corinthians 15:9,10). In other words, I was wrong, I was humble enough to repent and accept salvation from Him who saved me from the jaws of hell. That’s humility. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN