Judges 5:9 -- On Offering Ourselves

"My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the Lord."
Judges 5:9


I like the idea here of offering yourself. It sounds sacrificial, and in a way it is. God wants the sacrifice of a broken heart, a contrite spirit, and also a willing mind (2 Corinthians 8:12, D&C 64:34). He wants us to realize that we need improvement and to be meek enough to work with God to do good to ourselves by growing and improving and do good to others by learning to love, and forgive, and bless and not curse, to help rather than harm.

I don't think that kind of sacrifice has to feel sacrificial... like we are dying or tearing ourselves apart, but depending on what else we are giving up, sometimes repentance and change are painful. Even then though, it leads to more joy than we have ever felt, and a happiness about *ourselves* that we have never felt before either, so getting through that stage is worth the effort. Today, let's jump in and offer ourselves and become better while helping others to thrive and improve as well.

Psalms 32:2 -- On Guile

"Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile."
Psalms 32:2


I like the idea here of being without guile. Guile is basically being deceptive or duplicitous... or creative and intelligent, but in a devious way. :) So, perhaps someone who it doesn't even cross their mind to cheat, or to lie or to treat people differently, that might be a person without guile. Little kids are, but I think most of us quickly learn some guile from the world.

Maybe today, with God's help we can unlearn some of it, and look at other people with fresh eyes and a spirit of sincerity and love.

Romans 12:9-10 -- On Preferring One Another

"Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;"
Romans 12:9-10


I like the idea of preferring one another. We're told to treat everyone well and to not be thinking that someone is better because of riches or whatever, and even to love our enemies, so we know it isn't about saying these people are better than those people. I love the idea of having everyone be your favorite for different reasons. Preferring not one person over another, but people over worldly thing. Everyone has something cool and special about them, and their own kind of genius. If we look for those things, then we can make people feel special and noticed as we love them and not just treat everyone the same because we are glossing over everyone in the same way. :)

Today, let's try to love everyone as God does, not just in bulk, but also on an individual level, finding out what makes a person awesome and celebrating it. :)