gratitude: day 16

today I'm grateful for

a thought on humility

shared by a friend

in her talk last sunday.

i must have really needed to hear it.

i've been thinking about it a lot this week.

we don't discover humility by thinking less OF ourselves.

we discover humility by thinking less ABOUT ourselves.

dieter f. uchtdorph

discovering humility is a life-long quest, isn't it?

pride is at the core of every sin.

every time i'm frustrated or short of patience

it's usually because i'm thinking about myself.

here's a little more from this talk by President Uchtdorph:

So how do we conquer this sin of pride that is so prevalent and so damaging? How do we become more humble?

It is almost impossible to be lifted up in pride when our hearts are filled with charity. “No one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love.” When we see the world around us through the lens of the pure love of Christ, we begin to understand humility.

Some suppose that humility is about beating ourselves up. Humility does not mean convincing ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless, or of little value. Nor does it mean denying or withholding the talents God has given us. We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with an attitude of serving God and our fellowman.


Humility directs our attention and love toward others and to Heavenly Father’s purposes. Pride does the opposite. Pride draws its energy and strength from the deep wells of selfishness. The moment we stop obsessing with ourselves and lose ourselves in service, our pride diminishes and begins to die.