Holiday Improvement

Yesterday was Ward Conference and it was so fabulous.  The Bishop gave a wonderful speech about humility.  There I was, all proud of myself for getting Reid and I both ready for Church . . . and on time . . . all while Ben is out of town.  I knew that being there was really an answer to my prayers.  I knew it was all Heavenly Father and his generous blessings . . . but I still sat in a pool of my own pride.  My pre-pregnancy outfit, my cute new baby, my being there on my own after just one month.  How vain?!?!

I realized I need to give credit where credit is due more often.  The Bishop concluded by encouraging us to embrace one another.  The Arabic word for atone is embrace.  So to be Christlike, we must embrace one another. 

The Stake President grabbed our Bishops commitment to embrace each other and spoke about love.  It kind of made me feel guilty, but in a good way.  He said that if our hearts are truly filled with love, we wouldn't gossip or say hurtful things.  We'd never knowingly or intentionally manipulate anyone, not even in the smallest ways.  There would be no unfair treatment.  No unkind words.  Nothing but pure politeness, even to strangers.

I just felt like both of these things (humility and love for others) are exactly what I need to work on right now.  Usually it's patience . . . but my long awaited baby is finally here . . . so humility and love.  Those are the Christlike attributes I'll be striving for this holiday season. 

Here are some crazy stats for my dad (who was a stake clerk for like 18 years, so Church data seems to be his thing), some other readers may also find this interesting.  Our ward has about 160 single adults, less than 40 are between the ages of 18 and 30.  We have 9 young men and 5 young women.  I think he said there was somewhere around 37 primary age children.  And like 45 kids under 18 months, of those 45 - 24 are babies born into the ward just this year, and of those 24 - 20 were born to first time moms.