To be sick and incapacitated turns even the smallest
tasks into mountains. Seeing mountains before you all the time, makes you feel
very small. It’s a place of powerlessness, a place of vulnerability and a place
I didn’t expect, that of humility.
By being dependent on others shows you what you cannot
otherwise see – your sense of self-importance. It brings you closer to the understanding
that you are not as powerful as you thought you were and that you cannot
survive and rise to higher ground on your own merit. In a world of ego that we
live in, the lessons that lead to humility are imperative.
Herein is the necessity for humility….. Mortality is a
state of weakness which we cannot rise above on our own. The good news is that
a path has been provided to a power that can lift us. That path leads to
Calvary and is laced with humility.
You might say the Saviour experienced mortal life at ‘ground zero’. And
in doing so he ‘descended below all things that he might comprehend all things’:
our difficulties, our sorrows, our sins, our imperfections, our sufferings, our
inabilities, our mortal weakness (D&C 88:6; 62:1). He descended below all
things that He might know the state of weakness of mortal life.
Imagine a God leaving His exalted throne and all that comes with it, to
be rejected, spat upon, scourged, reviled and crucified. Imagine the humility
it would take to subject yourself to all that, despite the power within your
grasp....and all this for the sake of someone else and not yourself. Does it
not make you wonder about your self-worth? Embrace the beating of your
cherished heart, you were worth it.
I have been keeping a list of the Saviour’s characteristics for many years.
So far I have 18. One year I noticed a scripture that stunned me and opened my
eyes to the Saviour’s humility:
“Therefore, I command you to build a house unto me, for the gathering
together of my saints, that they may WORSHIP ME” (D&C 115:8). Can you
imagine the amount of humility it would take for a God totally devoid of pride
to say such a thing? It would have to be someone who knows perfectly well who
he is, is confident in that knowledge and most of all, has a purity of spirit
and heart. Compare this to Lucifer’s desire to be worshipped (Moses 4:1-4;
1:16-19).
It amazes me that someone so powerful who calls himself ‘the king of
heaven’ (2 N 10:14), who can create worlds and annihilate them by the power of
His word can also be so humble (Helaman 12:9-17; D&C 63:4; Isaiah 11:4).
This is the perfection of God, the balance is indisputable.
My mountains have shown me that I can do nothing of myself to rise to
the summit but herein lies my hope:
“And if men come unto me I will show unto them their
weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is
sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble
themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become
strong unto them.” (Ether 12:27)
Note that ‘weakness’ at the beginning of this
scripture refers to the state of mortality. The ‘weak things’ mentioned at the
end of the scripture refers to our individual ‘weaknesses’.
Whether the mountains will be removed or I will be carried to the
summit, I know not. I only know that the Saviour of my soul has the power to do
both.
O
the pain that seared Your heart
As
You encountered human misery
On
the dusty roads of Galilee!
You
embraced it all so lovingly
And
took it with You to the hill of Calvary.
You,
who ached for our misery,
Became
the beacon of hope
For
all who accept Your suffering.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
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