Lately, I've been trying to finish reading Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger: which I highly recommend. But instead of getting into the whole book, I'll just share my favorite passage that I found reading today. It explains my feelings over the past week and how sometimes the truth really does hurt.
"Dad asked, "You remember what the Lord said about enemies?"
In fact I did remember some passages about enemies. Once, sick of whinners, the Lord caused the earth to crack open like an old bun and a crowd of them fell right in. And how about that prophet Elijah, slaughtering four hundred priests of Baal in one afternoon? Then there were the twisted fellows of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the time before that when God killed pretty much everyone in the world except Noah's family. The Old Testament, boy, it suited me.
"Love your enemies," Dad said. "Pray for those who persecute you."
He would pick those verses.
"Rats, huh?" he said."
Well I just sat and laughed about how true that it and how Heavenly Father is trying to tell me that too. Except that my enemies aren't human. They are complaining, sarcasm, insults, gruffing, pity, idleness and the core of it all: not being grateful. What a great lesson to realize just hours away from Thanksgiving. I really do have a lot to be thankful for, its just hard not to add up your troubles and trials before you count off your blessings.
Dear sweet Marjorie Hinckley wrote:
"We are His children. And if we ever got that through our heads thoroughly, understood that completely, we would never do a small thing, we would never say a cross word, we would not use bad language, we would not criticize anybody, we would love everyone the way the Savior loves us."
I read that, and my heart drooped. Who was I to condemn anothers actions, when I looked not at my own? Who was I to complain? Who was I to be upset?
Well being frustrated at myself is something I'm an expert at. Then I woke up this morning and read this quote by President Gordon B. Hinckley. I sure miss him.
"My plea is that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully in the sunlight. I am suggesting that as we go through life, we "accentuate the positive". I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment and endorse virtue and effort."
What a slap in the face I got! I understand that this doesn't mean that I have to be perfect everyday in words and actions, but that I should and I need to be trying harder to do so.
What a lesson to be learned.
