Ether 12:27 -- On Weakness and Humility

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."
Ether 12:27

Ether 12:27 It's hard to feel weak sometimes. Vulnerability can be scary, and we seem to instinctively build walls to protect ourselves. Sometimes the walls can be mostly good things, like a healthy hobby or a support system of people who care about us, but they can also be bad things, like pride or arrogance or thinking of other people as lesser, or wrong, or just too different from ourselves to even deal with. We can insulate ourselves with addictions or obsessions so we don't have to think about our weaknesses, failures, or potential failures. Even good things can keep us from learning things that we need to learn--if we stay sheltered in our coccoons forever, we never give ourselves the chance to develop into what God knows we can become.

Our best selves are glorious, beautiful, incredible beings of light and love. God is showing us the way to get there... but part of the way is weakness and vulnerability. It is scary, but as long as we are learning our lessons from the Lord, feeling that fear and anxiety also can teach us compassion and generosity and helps us to relate to other people who feel those things too (which is everyone at different times). Learning to deal with inability and broken selves helps us to appreciate and seek meaningful work and wholeness. Feeling vulnerable and at risk with other people helps us to identify bad relationship strategies and to help other people feel whole and safe. The key is to not seek to fill our broken hearts with something besides God... he is the only thing that can heal and fill us. If we look to him for our help, then we will learn and progress and develop and become. Let's make sure that we look to God and allow our weaknesses to teach us and the Lord to guide us, rather than thinking weakness means we are evil or awful and giving up. As God says above, his grace is sufficient for all of us, if we humble ourselves and have faith... he will teach us how to be everything that we long to be in righteousness. :)