What Do  I/You Value?

As mentioned in previous blogs, I am working on my Person Progress.  This week included value experiences in Individual Worth and Divine Nature. D&C 18:10, “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;" was the first scripture referenced in the experience.  

For some reason my kindle highlighted the next verse also.  D&C 18:11

                                

“For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him”

Whoa!  Wait a minute!  You know those times when the Spirit finally gets that spiritual bat to hit you right between the eyes and you wake up and think for a second.  This was one of them.  How great is the worth of souls to God?  Our Savior obviously must value mankind enough  to suffer death in the flesh and to suffer the pain of all men so we could repent.  Wait a minute…How much does the Lord value me? Does He value me also? I was stunned at the impact I felt from this verse.  What value...what love Christ has for us, for me.  

The next scripture was D&C 121:45, “Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men…”

Charity:  True love of Christ.  

Do I have the love that Christ has? How much value do I place on my brothers and sisters around me?  The spiritual bat was really beating me up now! 

As I was mulling these thoughts in my mind, my sweat little Granddaughter, Chloe, dumped all her yogurt bites on the floor.  What was the first reaction in my mind, “Oh, thanks, Chloe!  Now I have to clean up your yogurt bites. Sigh, mumble, mumble.”  Thank goodness the Spirit still had his bat in his hand and hit me again, square between the eyes.  How quickly I resorted to the natural man.  I love my precious Chloe.  She is the light of my day.  Yet, after just deciding to be more charitable...I was total without charity in my thoughts.  Thank goodness that bat hit me, because I was able to react in a much more gracious manner.  “That’s okay.  Let’s pick ‘em up.”  

  

The next day we went to Utah and spent some time with Erik.  Another moment of the bat hitting me on the head.  Erik reminded me that I have a tendency to criticize and make fun of others.  Yep right between the eyes once again. 

As we were leaving Utah Valley, there was a radio program on Mormon Times talking about older singles and dating.  The man talking said that all daters need to change their perspective  from “What can I get out of this date?” to, “How can I benefit and bless the life of the person I am dating?”

Today, I read Dale Carnegie’s words, “When we are not engaged in thinking about some definite problem, we usually spend about 95 percent of our time thinking about ourselves.”

The bat has been swinging everyday!  

Is this the way I can develop that charity, the true love of Christ, His ability to value others?  Do I need to stop thinking about me?  That just does not fit with the culture in which I live.   “Me” is such an important part of our culture. 

Where does the word “me” come into our Savior’s life. "Thy will be done."  "The glory by thine."  Not a lot of me, in His thinking.  Our Redeemer suffered death in the flesh for you and me, he suffered the pain of all men. Not much “me” in that.  

What do I resolve?  To look out beyond myself, forget my problems.  I am blessed to know who I am.  I know of my worth.  There are so many who do not.  I must remember that the worth of souls is great in the Sight of my Savior.  Do I value others, as He does.  Better yet, do I value Him?   

Side note:  While I was preparing this blog, I could hear crunching in the other room.  I assumed Chloe was crushing crackers.  Nope, she was painstakingly dismantling the wicker basket that holds her books.  Oh, well.  Got that taken care of and gave her some wipe off markers and the whiteboard to keep her entertained.  However, the white board was not as entertaining as each of the squares of the tile floor.  But together we sang songs and picked up the pieces of wicker basket and played with the" bubbles" used to clean the floor and wash her hands. Valuing Chloe was much better than valuing my basket or the floor.