Pride

As I read President Ezra Taft Bensons Talk “Beware of Pride,” I was struck when he said, “Pride is a damning sin in the true sense of the word. It limits or stops progression. The proud are not easily taught. They won’t change their minds to accept truths, because to do so implies they have been wrong.” This hit me heavily, because I can see myself in that statement. I hate to be wrong in most cases. I can be humble when I am learning something new, for example if I start a new job, get a new calling, or when I sere in the temple. But at home and with my family, I can be quite prideful.

The readings this week from John Gottman’s book and Goddard’s book, along with the above referenced talk, have really called me to repentance. Where does someone as proud as me start to repent and work to change toward humility?

I love that President Benson ended his talk with what we can do to choose to humble ourselves. I will list a few that are personally meaningful to me:

• We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are.
• We can choose to humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement.
• We can choose to humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us.
• We can choose to humble ourselves by confessing and forsaking our sins and being born of God.
• We can choose to humble ourselves by loving God, submitting our will to His, and putting Him first in our lives.

President Benson listed scriptures to each of these so we can study this for ourselves. I don’t think that I am overly proud, but I recognize the need for me to work on overcoming this part of me. I know that my relationships will be blessed as I put in the effort.