Humility Brings Blessings

Recently I've been thinking about pride. My own pride and the hindrance it brings upon me and my relationships with others. I know that we all have pride in some form. I also know that we have the ability to better ourselves. I really am striving to stop being prideful towards others and to begin improving myself. I know that I can do this as I humble myself and seek to put Heavenly Father first in my life.

Having said that, a big reason why pride has been on my mind relates to the scriptures. The "pride cycle" is continually recurring in the part of The Book of Mormon I'm reading. For those of you who don't know, the pride cycle basically consists of prospering, then having pride (in many forms... forgetting God, giving credit to yourself for blessings given from God, etc.), being chastened, becoming humble (once again searching for God and recognizing his hand in your life), and then once again prospering. The cycle usually repeats time and again.

Helaman chapter 4, is a perfect example of the pride cycle. The Nephites forget God, become prideful and contentious, are chastened (through a war with the Lamanites), and then repent and humble themselves because of their loss and hardships. Verse 13 is the culmination of the pride cycle: "And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten..." Once they realize their hardships and see that the prophecies given by former prophets are now coming to pass, the people decide to repent and to change their ways.

Through this experience, the Nephites realized that when they allowed pride to enter in to their hearts, they "had become weak... the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them" (Helaman 4:24). I have felt this way before. Although my own pride has never led me to the extent of the Nephites' wickedness, it has had an effect on my life. It also has kept me from having the Spirit as my guide, similar to the Nephites.

All of this serves as a reminder to me that I need to be better about keeping myself in check. Rather than being compelled to be humble because of my circumstances, I should become humble because I want to be closer to God. I know that if I am humbly trying to serve God and am keeping him as a BIG priority in my life, I will be blessed.