Beware of Pride

Chapter 7 of John Gottmans' book "Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work", it talks a lot about letting your spouse influence you.  After reading this, it made a lot of sense to me.  If that spouse doesn't feel like their thoughts, feeling or even ideas matter in their relationship they might stop trying and close themselves off.  There can be no growth and what they might of had in the beginning of the relationship dwindles because it isn't being nourished.  Just like a muscle starts to shrink if not used so does the relationship.   With this I can see how abuse in all forms can happen.  I have read the talk by President Benson before but it was really good to read it again especially with a new perspective on applying it to our marriages.You can read the whole things here  https://byui.brightspace.com/content/enforced/414034-Online.2018.Spring.FAML300.01/Course%20Files/Benson-Pride.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=oywo04Q4tyGDFf1dxY5eopdB2&ou=414034
 He said we have pride when "our will is in competition with God's will.  This allows desires, and passions to go unbridled."  He goes on to say "The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives.  They pit their perceptions of truth against God's great knowledge, their abilities verses God's priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works."  This part hit home for me.  Over the last year I have seen many friends and acquaintances I know fall into this trap called pride.  Whether it was rebellion, being easily offended or hard hearted, they all have questioned what they have know for many years about their belief in the church and also about God.  It is sad to see them let go of the rod of iron and head towards the great and spacious building.  These are people who in the past were rock solid in their testimonies and in their faith in Jesus Christ.  Unfortunately, most of them started to listen to the world and allowed Satan's craftiness into their lives.  Benson mentioned, "The proud aren't interested in changing their opinions to agree with God's".  So many have been caught up in this me mindset.  They say to themselves, I need to be true to myself so I will do things my own way.  They start picking and choosing what parts of the gospel they will adhere to, or they leave the church all together.  They receive praise from the world telling them how strong they are and it just adds fuel to their new path.    They come to care more about what people think, than what God thinks.  It truly breaks my heart, Satan has done such a good job on confusing people on what is truly important and what this earth life is all about.  Satan lies to us  and tells us that we don't need to have a change of heart or even grow and learn to become more like our Father in Heaven because we are fine how we are.  He wants us to forget what was promised to us, that if we follow our Savior and repent, and try to be more like Him, we can have eternal life.    From my youth I remember a story about a frog.  If you put a frog into a pot of boiling water it will immediately jump out because it recognizes the dangers.  If you put a frog in a pot of cold water and slowly heat the water up to boiling, the frog gets use to the changing temperature and eventually will boil to death.  This is how Satan works his crafty tools of pride.  He adds a little at at time and the world gets used to it and then he adds more.  People start keeping their schedules so busy with things that the world says we need to do, that they stop doing the small and simple things that invite the Holy Ghost to guide and protect us on a daily basis.  When we don't have the spirit it is a lot easier to let go of the rod and get distracted by the great and spacious building.  The world shouts louder than the whisperings of the Holy Ghost.   Wallace Goddard's chapter on repentance and humility is the key to overcoming pride.  It can be done and I love the examples he gave of people in the scriptures that have overcome pride and humbled themselves before God.  This causes me to reflect on my own life and the different areas where I can improve, where I can humble myself, repent and ask for help from my Father in Heaven.