Hi Ladies! It's Sister #4.
As I was pondering on what to blog about the last week or so, It came to me
when I was getting ready for Church on Sunday.
Comparing!
Why do we compare ourselves to others?
Why do I compare myself to my neighbor?
WHO KNOWS!
All I know is we do it....
We compare our bodies, our hair, houses,
cars, even our children against other siblings.
The list could go on and on.
Although I know I am so blessed in my life, I still do it.
It is an inevitable part of life that we compare.
I believe it can be dangerous still.
President Ezra Taft Benson has warned us that “the proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not. Their self-esteem is determined by where they are judged to be on the ladders of worldly success” (“Beware of Pride,” Ensign, May 1989, p. 6).
Isn't that the truth?
I was reading a talk by Janet G. Lee.
She made some really great points....
We are constantly adding up our scores like we are still in school....
Seeing who gets the most A's.
This caught my attention. Whatever we are doing, wherever we see
ourselves on the scale of life, we need to put aside the world's notions
of what we should be and remember,
“The Lord doesn’t grade on a curve.”
Elder Marvin J. Ashton said:
"When the Lord measures an individual, He does not take a tape measure around the person’s head to determine his mental capacity, nor his chest to determine his manliness, but He measures the heart as an indicator of the person’s capacity and potential to bless others." [“The Measure of Our Hearts,” Ensign, November 1988, p. 15]
To Him we are all A's.
No matter what!
We can even make mistakes and we are still A's.
She also said this...
"An equally dangerous practice is giving ourselves an inferior rating. In this instance we often compare our weakest points with everybody else’s strongest ones. If we believe we are at the bottom of the ladder of success, we feel defeated. I remember one afternoon sitting as a family in a sacrament meeting where a talented family performed a beautiful musical number. Each instrument was perfectly tuned and exquisitely played, creating an atmosphere of truly celestial music. At first I listened attentively, but soon a part of me became distracted as my thoughts broke through the Spirit. What kind of mother am I? I should have made our children practice more. Then, glancing at my row of children, I thought: Don’t kid yourself—our gene pool just didn’t produce great musicians. I supposed we could polish the piano keys, carry the instrument cases, or even wheel in the harp. But at that moment, in my very narrow perception, I felt we were among the lowly, and this musical family was surely several rungs up the celestial staircase.
Why do we do that to ourselves? When someone else does something well or owns something we do not have, why do we immediately knock ourselves down a rung or two? Appreciating the abilities and resources of others should lift us, not diminish us in any way.
Each of us is loved and valued beyond any earthly means of measuring. The Lord knows our hearts and sees our individual worth."
We cannot have every talent and every virtue.
We should be happy for people and what they accomplish!
End of story.
We are alive!
We have each other!
That's all that matters.
Happy Thursday!
Love this!!! And I do the same thing during sacrament when there's all these talented people doing their thing and I'm just like, "Really? Come on. No whole family can be that good." as I look at my family thinking I sure messed up by not having my kids take any music lessons at all. But hey, at least were super fun and always laughing with each other and of course at each other.
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