Week 8: Beware of Pride

I really appreciated the lesson this week on Pride.  I feel like this is something that can be discussed over and over again.  There are so many different aspects to pride, that it wouldn’t feel repetitive based on how you went about discussing this topic.

On my mission, I had a really hard time with several companions.  I’m not kidding when I had those companions that people would see at Zone Meetings or Mission Conferences, and missionaries would pray not to get them-- I always got them.  It almost got to be a running joke with some elders I came out with.  I used to think my Mission President hated me.  They would always assure me, President doesn’t hate you.  But after the 4^th or 5^th one, they were like, “okay, maybe president doesn’t like you?”  It was a question, because no one understood why I would end up with them.

I also ended up having an Emergency Transfer (ET) on my mission—twice.  Once was from my trainer who was pretty much apostate.  The other was to help another sister companionship in my zone.  They were struggling big time, so President decided he would ET both of our companionships, and I was sent the problem companion.  Needless to say, my letters and journal entries were less than spiritual or uplifting during these times.  I remember discussion at length doctrine with my Dad.  He always had such great advice.  He constantly would warn me about the pride cycle and how pride can be evident even in our missionary companionships. 

The proud man (or woman) cannot be helped, and until we repent, we are just going to be miserable.  We need to learn to get rid of our pride and come unto the Savior (Either 12:27), and he will show us our weaknesses and help us to overcome them.  Remember that his grace is sufficient for all of us (he is not going to run out of grace) And he CAN fix all of our problems, if we humble ourselves and let him do it.  This is something that I had to do over and over on my mission with my companions.  It is something I must do in my marriage as well.

In President Benson’s 1989 talk “Beware of Pride”, he counsels: “In the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous pride—it is always considered a sin. Therefore, no matter how the world uses the term, we must understand how God uses the term so we can understand the language of holy writ and profit thereby. Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, is still missing.

The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.

When we step back, we must realize that we need to not have enmity.  I will admit that there are times where I am prideful and have to work through them.  I need to rely on the savior and make sure that pride doesn’t come into my relationship with my husband in our relationship with each other.  Being prideful does nothing to bring us closer to the Savior—it pushes us further apart.