This week, I have been studying cycles, specifically the pride cycle in the Book of Mormon. It's amazing to me how many times the Nephites fall into this cycle, and it's seen several times very quickly in the book of Helaman especially. The people prosper and have success, then the prosperity goes to their head and they get proud. They forget who their prosperity comes from. They forget the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon them. When they do this, they think it was all themselves and they then consider themselves better than their fellow men. This then leads to classes, status, segregation and a lack of love and charity.
What these people forget, is that all things good come from Heavenly Father. He blesses the people when they keep the commandments. But then they think they did it all on their own and then the Nephites stopped keeping the commandments, and stopped looking out for others. Things started to go downhill. Troubles came. Wars and bloodshed came. The Nephites stopped being successful in their ventures. They began to see their own nothingness and began to see the Lord's hand in all that they had been able to accomplish. This, I have learned, is the definition of humility. The Nephites began again to be humble, to hearken to the prophets, and to follow the Lord.
Are we really any different?
We often go through the same issues, the same cycles, the same weaknesses and addictions. We feel that we are doing good and that we therefore don't need to follow as closely or as tightly as we used to. We think that we can do it on our own. when we start doing it on our own, our Heavenly Father in his wisdom, allows us our choice. This is prime time for Satan to step in. He then convinces us that we did do it all on our own and that we can take our own paths, make our own choices based on what we want to do. We grow further and further away from our Heavenly Father, from truth. Then we hit rock bottom. Something comes, and Satan is no where to be found to try to comfort us. He abandons us as quickly as he started after us. We begin to question what we thought we knew and we find that the things we do know are what keeps us close to Heavenly Father. We realize that we did do great, but we did great because we trusted Him and followed Him. If only we could stay this way.
Break the cycle.
Great post Missy. The pride cycle continues today on a very personal level. Choosing to break the cycle is the essential use of agency. I personally believe the key is choosing humility when I recognize that I am on the wrong path. Humility is a dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ that lends itself to prayer, scripture study, and repentance. As I choose to stay humble, the Lord will bless and prosper me. A new cycle is reborn, until the natural man comes out in me! Thank you for your thoughts.
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