To Stand or Kneel?

First of all, I just want to say that this is not a political post!  I will not be commenting about any specific opinions about the NFL protest.

This last weekend, I was blessed to be able to attend women's conference.  I truly felt that some of the talks were meant specifically for me!  I left the conference with a spiritual glow and determination to be a little better and try a little harder.  Then a few days later (or maybe the next day, I'm not so good with remembering the dates) the internet exploded with scandal and outrage!  Friend argued against friend and neither could understand the other's perspective.  I felt disheartened after being so inspired.  Then I happened to remember a quote from Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk about the three sisters, specifically the mad sister:

"She didn’t think of herself as a mean person. To the contrary, she felt that she was only sticking up for herself. Everyone else, she believed, was motivated by selfishness, pettiness, and hate. She, on the other hand, was motivated by good intentions—justice, integrity, and love.

Unfortunately, the mad sister’s line of thinking is all too common. This was noted in a recent study that explored conflict between rival groups. As part of the study, researchers interviewed Palestinians and Israelis in the Middle East, and Republicans and Democrats in the United States. They discovered that “each side felt their own group [was] motivated by love more than hate, but when asked why their rival group [was] involved in the conflict, [they] pointed to hate as [the other] group’s motivating factor.”3

In other words, each group thought of themselves as the “good guys”—fair, kind, and truthful. By contrast, they saw their rivals as the “bad guys”—uninformed, dishonest, even evil.

In the year I was born, the world was immersed in a terrible war that brought agonizing grief and consuming sorrow to the world. This war was caused by my own nation—by a group of people who identified certain other groups as evil and encouraged hatred toward them.

They silenced those they did not like. They shamed and demonized them. They considered them inferior—even less than human. Once you degrade a group of people, you are more likely to justify words and acts of violence against them.

I shudder when I think about what happened in 20th-century Germany.

When someone opposes or disagrees with us, it’s tempting to assume that there must be something wrong with them. And from there it’s a small step to attach the worst of motives to their words and actions.

Of course, we must always stand for what is right, and there are times when we must raise our voices for that cause. However, when we do so with anger or hate in our hearts—when we lash out at others to hurt, shame, or silence them—chances are we are not doing so in righteousness."

The rest of this talk is so good!  You can read all about it here.
This talk could not have come at a more perfect time!  This quote almost perfectly sums up our politico-social climate!  We all want the same things.  We can all teach each other something if we will only listen!
In the end we are all children of God and He loves all of us!  Just because we may disagree with someone doesn't mean that they or we are bad.  It just means we have different opinions based on our life experiences.
Anyways...  I just wanted to share this awesome talk with you in the hope that it would bring you as much comfort as it brought me.  I would just like to sign off this post by putting one more quote from this talk:
"So, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we will love our enemies.

We will overcome anger or hate.

We will fill our hearts with love for all of God’s children.

We will reach out to bless others and minister to them—even those who might “despitefully use [us] and persecute [us].”








Love,


Courtney












PS-I'm sorry it's been forever.  For some reason, the thought of writing on this blog was very overwhelming.  Hopefully this spark of inspiration will stay lit and you will get to hear more of my insane ramblings!  Have a great day!