December 18, 2010

I finished President Uchtdorf's talk on pride that I began last night. It was a wonderful talk. I love that this was my husband's favorite talk. There really is great wisdom in it. He says that "at its core, pride is a sin of comparison... [that] always seems to end with 'therefore, I am better than you.'" This reminds me so much of what I read in The Anatomy of Peace. In that book it explains our hearts can only be one of two ways: either we see others as equal to us, with hopes, dreams, feelings and fears as real to them as ours are to us (which is a heart at peace), or we see others as less than ourselves (which is a heart at war). President Uchtdorf highlights these same ideas by saying, "It could be said that every other sin is, in essence, a manifestation of pride," and "we must realize that all of God's children wear the same jersey." We really are all equal and should be treating each other as such. I know the opposite of pride is humility and I loved what President Uchtdorf said about it. He said, "We don't discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves." And another antidote to pride that he brings up is charity. He says, "It is almost impossible to be lifted up in pride when our hearts are filled with charity." I admit I struggle with pride on a daily basis, but I've found that being willing to admit my folly and to begin thinking of the other person, how they feel, how I can serve them, really does quickly pull me out of that self-centered, better-than state. I want to be out of that state as often as possible.