Lofty Looks - Principle One

Day 2 - 2 Nephi 12:11  "And it shall come to pass that the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."

"Because we usually try to overcome our weaknesses alone, we fail time after time. How can this help in the process of humbling us? Write about a problem you have sought to solve yourself and how peaceful or permanent your efforts have been. What do you suppose it means that “the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day”—the day when our “lofty looks” shall be humbled and all truth shall be known?"  (pg. 13)

It is by my weaknesses that I recognize who I am relative to the Savior (and Heavenly Father).  Mortality really is vain and frail.  One great struggling of mine was negative thought patterns.  Yep, negative thought patterns that I had a hard time admitting were there, or admitting how extensive they were.  My story about myself was I was "upbeat", "cheerful", etc.  It was my sister Andrea who opened my eyes to how much negativity ran through me because of our family upbringing.  She told me I was a "heavy" like the rest of the family.  I immediately panicked back "No, I'm not"  My mind was ready to see it though, because in that instant I saw a true glimpse of myself, and had to own it..."Yes, actually yes I am."  Trust me, it broke my heart.

Even though I wasn't as negative as other family members, I had made my family norm the benchmark.  As long as I was doing "so much better" than my family's benchmark, I imagined that was enough.  Well, actually I didn't give it much thought.  Oh boy, was I blind, or in denial, or something!?  The real benchmark is Christ.  This is where I cry while I'm writing this.  Compared to Christ, I was way, way down the path.  Facing that was painful.  Looking inside my head and becoming conscious of the downbeat thought parade marching on - was humbling.  And making up my mind to not be negative worked as well as my dieting typically does.  FAIL.

So when the scripture says the Lord alone is exalted, I think that is because in that day we'll all see ourselves objectively, with enlightened, corrected perspective.  Wouldn't that naturally happen when standing next to the Savior and seeing the tremendous difference?  Humility probably only begins to describe that moment of comparison.

Bless you!