Today's Favorite Verse: Proverbs 24:17

Today's Favorite Verse: Proverbs 24:17

"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:"

It has to be wickedness in the heart to rejoice when the someone falls. This made me think of Mormon as he witnessed the destruction of his civilization.

"And my heart did sorrow because of this the great calamity of my people, because of their wickedness and their abominations..."

(Mormon 2:27)

That is probably going to be the hardest thing we will endure in these final days, witnessing the destruction of the wicked, because they are still our brothers and sisters. We cannot harden our hearts and withhold love and charity. As with Mormon there were times he was told not to lead them, or preach to them. Other times he was counseled to do so. There is such a need to be close to the spirit during these times. Always Mormon spoke of his love for them and he mourned for them in the very end.

"O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you!

Behold, if ye had not done this, ye would not have fallen. But behold, ye are fallen, and I mourn your loss."

Mormon 6:17-18)

"The second attitude adjustment is to not allow ourselves to find satisfaction in calamities of the last days. Sometimes we tend to take joy in seeing the natural consequences of sin unfold. We might feel some vindication for being ignored by most of the world and persecuted and berated by others. When we see earthquakes, wars, famines, disease, poverty, and heartbreak, we may be tempted to say, “Well, we warned them. We told them a thousand times not to engage in those activities.”

"Our forgiveness must be manifest by reaching out to help mend wounds even when they are the result of transgression. To react in any other way would be akin to setting up a lung cancer clinic for nonsmokers only. Whether the pain has come to someone who is completely innocent or is something of his own making is irrelevant. When a person has been hit by a truck, we don’t withhold our help even when it is obvious he didn’t stay in the pedestrian lane."

(Glenn L. Pace, "A Thousand Times", Oct 1990 General Conference)

Day 2811