Loving without Pride

If we really understand the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we understand that mistakes and imperfection in this life is the name of the game. We are here to become, over a lifetime and then some, an eternal companion in a forever family.

In  all of the reading I’ve done for this marriage class, the most impactful for me was the chapter in Dr. Goddard’s book about pride in marriage. I found myself practically rewriting that whole chapter in my notes because everything spoke to me. Here are some of the things that stood out to me, because I really need to work on them or I see evidence of them all around me:

·       “When we are feeling irked, annoyed, or irritated with our spouse…we are guilty of pride.”

·       “The natural man is inclined to love himself and to fix others.” I love to fix others. Oh my.

·       His concept that in the world we teach that we should look out for ourselves and make sure we are happy, when what really makes us happy is serving others!

·       Pride=we are innocent; others are guilty

·       Pride=attunement to our own needs as a standard of judgement

·       “In order to be saved, we must stop trying to save ourselves.”

·       “Appreciating is more powerful that correcting.” YES! This!

·       There is power in submission. Ask. Seek. Petition. He can do MORE than we can.

I am more prideful than I thought. This chapter was a great opportunity for me to self-reflect and make some needed changes. I love to love. However, after reading this chapter, I realized a had a skewed vision of “loving” and “helping”. I’m so excited to be more focused on loving my spouse by accepting and appreciating.