Surround Yourself with Greatness

I read this post earlier this week.  It reminded me of how empowering wonderful, and insightful women can be.  I count this woman as a friend of mine, she teaches at the school where I am a librarian.  I love to have friends who inspire me to want to be a better person.  I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did.


 Today I arrived late to church. I might, under normal circumstances, be annoyed at myself for “committing” such a self-proclaimed embarrassing action. Today I couldn’t care less. It’s the first time I’ve been to my relief society meeting in a long time. I was really proud of myself for making it there at all. Late is nothing compared to the alternative, of recent.

Our lesson was on humility. I listened as different women raised their hands to discuss what humility means to them. One woman raised her hand and started with, “Hi, I’m sorry, . . .” After that intro I struggled to hear what else she said. I don’t appreciate the need so many women feel to apologize for themselves. For their actions? Their words? For taking up space? What, exactly, are we (I include myself here) apologizing for?!

I apologized on Friday night. I apologized to my partner for wanting to dance with him. Let’s just let that sink in for a second. What need have I of apologizing for that? None. But I did.

So now, humility. This is an important topic for Mormons. I’ll tell you what I think it’s not. Humility is not playing small. It’s not feeling like what you have to say is unimportant. It’s not believing that your words make no difference. Humility is not apologizing, although in some circumstances it can merit that. In contrast, I think humility is something powerful.

Look at Christ’s humble life. He knew his divinity and declared it. He taught with boldness. He loved with passion, he healed, he made outlandish promises that only He could keep. He walked on water. He allowed others to love him adoringly, intensely, and imperfectly. (Clarification: He perfectly allowed others to imperfectly love Him.)

What if humility comes from knowing who you really are, from recognizing your own divine value and eternal worth and acting on that? What if humility manifests your talents, instead of hiding them? What if it drives you toward greater accomplishments, and brings you accolades? I guess what I’m getting at is that humility might be knowing just exactly how great, how powerful, and how influential you are. Maybe humility means not quieting down, but speaking up. Maybe humility embodies boldness. Christ was humble. So too, was He bold.

Maybe I’m wrong. Our station in life, which is in constant flux, acts as the filter for everything we experience. I do know this, for too long I’ve believed too many lies. The lies have told me to apologize and to play small. Today’s lesson seems to have placed me in a position to experience humility in the way Christ intended for it to be. In bold humility I’ll drink life’s experiences without apology and without shame.

Let's get personal again. I'm not sorry I wanted to dance. I'm not sorry I walked into church late. I make no apology for being me.

Ha, now that we've been through all that, maybe what I am experiencing IS actually pride. Either way, still. I make no apology for being me.

What do you think is humility?

--Bethany McGarry

Until next time

The Best of the Best

I am a sports nut.  I love watching most sports, last week the Superbowl, for the next two weeks it will be the Olympics.  Like most people I want my favorite team to win. In the case of the Olympics I want the US to do well. But what I love the most are the back stories.  What happens away from the spotlight.

How do we feel about ourselves, how do we treat others.  When you live in the spotlight your actions can be scrutinized to an extent that everyone thinks they can chime in on what they feel is acceptable. In reality just like people out of the spotlight, they are just doing the best they can.  When we start to compare ourselves to others, for the most part, we are harder on ourselves than on others.  We feel like we can always do better.  This feeling goes for our public as well as our private selves. 

It's funny, when it comes to sports, for some reason we expect perfection just as much in the spotlight as well as away for it.  We forget these athletes are just like us, they have good days and bad days.  And just like us, they hope the good days out weight the bad.  And we, like they, hope the good days happen when we need it the most. 

What makes people the best of the best?  I think when we keep trying to do our best everyday, and when we fall we keep getting back up and trying again. 


Until next time

Annoyed

Have you ever met that one person who can annoy everyone they meet?  Better question, have you ever been that person?  Sometimes I wonder about myself.  I know there are many things I do that can be considered annoying.  For some reason I pride myself on being able to recognize an actor in a movie or television show and tell you what else I've seen them in.  Then I act all smug if you disagree with me and then I have to double check IMDB and make sure I'm right.   How annoying is that? 

There is probably a good reason I spend time alone.  I love my alone time.  I love riding my bike, I love writing my book.  But I also love going to the movies alone, going to lunch alone.  I even love working at the bookstore alone.  I wonder if that's because no one can tell me I'm wrong. 

I have been trying to get over what others do that annoys me because I realize everyone is annoying to somebody.  I want to be a loving, giving, caring person.  I want to be helpful, and forgiving.  But I'm also at the time in my life where I don't always care what other people say.  It's a precarious position to be in.  My goal then is to as un-annoying as possible but still be myself.  To be as giving and caring as I can and still allow others to be themselves. 

But hey right now I just want the Eagles to win the Super Bowl!!!!!

Until next time.