As I was pondering some scriptures today, the Spirit taught me something that caused a significant paradigm shift in my mind.
Two verses of scripture that are very meaningful to me revealed a blindspot in my perceptions of myself, others, and God. Let’s start with this verse:
And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.
Ether 12:27
How does God show us our weakness? I’ve written about this before, and I’m sure there is a myriad of ways that he does this, but today a new idea hit me pretty hard.
In the other verse, Moroni teaches us something about why God allows us to see the weaknesses in others:
Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been.
Mormon 9:31
Why is it that when we observe others, we do not see every single one of their weaknesses or imperfections and just certain ones?
What if one of the reasons we get frustrated with the imperfections we see in others is because God has removed the veil from our minds and is showing us our weaknesses reflected back to us through them.
In psychology, they have a term called “projection” where sometimes we attribute our own unacceptable urges to another.
Moroni teaches that God makes clear or obvious to the mind or eye the imperfections of others, specifically so that we can be wiser.
Our natural inclination is to feel negatively toward others when we see their imperfections, but Moroni provides some wise counsel: “…rather give thanks unto God…”
When you see the imperfections in others, it is a gift from God to you. This give should not be used to condemn them, but to cultivate wisdom by recognizing and remembering what it feels like to be on the other end of that imperfection.
Perhaps a Zion society consists of people that are as error-prone as we are right now, but better forgivers.
2 Comments
Ah. I really like this thought. I’ve often suspected that the reason certain things bother me about other people is that I have that same weakness myself. But the idea has always kind of bothered me, and I’ve hoped it isn’t true. :) I’ve certainly never thought to give thanks for it! But if it can help me improve myself…I should!
It’s not that every weakness or imperfection we see in others is a reflection of ourselves, but I think more often than not that could be one of the reasons God shows them to us. I think a lot of it too is for the future, perhaps we may one day develop that particular weakness and we are being warned beforehand. Maybe having seen and experienced the weaknesses and imperfections of others will allow us to prevent the same from entering our own behaviors. That is something indeed to be grateful for!