Lesson for July 8, 2018

Today our lesson was given by Karli Stewart about the talk by Elder Bednar, “Meek and Lowly of Heart.” The challenge last week was to take a personal inventory of ways to stay safe. Karli said that this was an excellent talk. She looked up the definition of meekness.The world’s definition was humble and weak, but the gospel’s definition is to be willing to follow and act as we should. We live in coarsening times and we may misunderstand meekness. Karli split us up into groups to discuss meekiness. We discussed examples in the scriptures, such as Pahoran. It’s not all about us. We need to have patience and meekness. Or Amulek who was told by an angel o receive Alma and become his partner. It resulted in Amulek becoming a great missionary. First, meekness isn’t passive. Our meekness can increase as we practice it, along with other attributes that would enhance meekness. The strength to withhold immediate judgment. The bad example was the rich young ruler who rejected Christ’s injunction to sell his goods and gain riches in heaven. Meekness goes against the natural man, yet it is a Christlike attribute. Sometimes it is hard to give up our position or our belongings because it establishes our self-identity. It is harder to give up such things due to pride. Then we inhibit ourselves. The opposite of meekness is pride. Ezra Taft Benson gave a great talk about Pride that tells about the opposite of pride. Temper and anger gets in the way of meekness, as does selfishness. our greatest example of meekness is Christ who said, :If it be Thy will.’ w need to focus on what Heavenly Father wants us to be. Karli asked us to write down what may be holding us back from being meek. If we are meek and try to be meek, we can develop this attribute.