Today in church a man gave a talk on President Monson's talk from the October 2012 conference, SEE OTHERS AS THEY MAY BECOME. It is an excellent talk about seeing people in a Christlike way. I absolutely love it. Not only did he talk about seeing others for who they can become, but he talked about seeing ourselves for who we can become. We can be so hard on ourselves. I'm reading Elder Holland's new book, Spiritual Solace from the Psalms and one of my favorite insights of his says (in reference to Psalm 3:2-5), "we must remember that he is a 'shield.' And one of the things we need to be shielded against is ourselves. We must constantly remind ourselves that he is God and we are not." I share this because it goes along perfectly with a story that the speaker in church told about a young mother and her family. He explained that this lady had experienced a "spiritual deadening" of sorts, and was having a hard time. One night when the husband was talking to her about it, she finally broke and said something to the effect of, "I can't do it anymore! I try and I try and I try but I lose patience with the kids and raise my voice, I can't keep the house clean, I can't always be serving others. I'm not talented like Sister Jones, and I'm not as compassionate as Sister Child. I know I'm not going to the Celestial Kingdom." In that moment, the husband thought to himself, "after all these years, she has known the Savior and yet she is still trying to save herself." The husband asked her if she has a testimony, and she said yes, "that's what makes this so hard! I know what I should be doing." The husband continued, "then don't you know that the Savior makes up for what we lack? That He covers this? That you don't have to do it alone?"
The story goes something like that and ahh I love it. I just love it. She had temporarily given up, because she couldn't see herself improving. She already felt like she wasn't going to progress. That is not the way Christ sees us! That is not how He would have us see ourselves! How comforting it is to know that we do not have to save ourselves. We simply aren't capable. So why are we so defeated when we fall short? Why do we suddenly define ourselves by these short comings? We must see ourselves as He sees us - with glorious potential. We must see that "he is God and we are not" - that we don't save ourselves. We just allow for the saving to take place, by coming unto Christ and allowing Him to heal us. It is then that He will make us who we need to be.
