Developing Meekness Position Statement

Meekness is a characteristic I have just recently become intrigued with.  From what I understand about it it is a powerful characteristic.  It basically means you are so secure in yourself that you are not easily ruffled, not easily offended.  You are not prideful, so your ego cannot be easily damaged.  It is the ability to be tough but tender at the same time.  It is an amazing characteristic that Christ displayed well as He walked the earth.  I believe as we seek to become more humble we will become more aware of our weaknesses and what we need to work on.  When we take the time to listen and understand rather than be adamant in presenting our opinion, we are acting in meekness.  When we can do this there is so much contention that can be avoided.  This is not a characteristic easily developed, but I feel it is one that is worth the time and effort.

Christlike Qualities

When our hearts are no longer set upon the things of this world, we will no longer aspire to the honors of men or seek only to gratify our pride (see D&C 121:35–37). Rather, we take on the Christlike qualities that Jesus taught.

Elder M. Russell Ballard - October 2012 General Conference "Be Anxiously Engaged"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/be-anxiously-engaged?lang=eng

Self-Correcting

Eventually, much of our chastening should come from within—we should become self-correcting. One of the ways that our late beloved colleague Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin became the pure and humble disciple that he was, was by analyzing his performance in every assignment and task. In his desire to please God, he resolved to determine what he could have done better, and then he diligently applied each lesson learned.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson - April 2011 General Conference "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/as-many-as-i-love-i-rebuke-and-chasten?lang=eng

Meekness Through Submission

·         Every one of us is more beloved to the Lord than we can possibly understand or imagine.  Let us therefore be kinder to one another and kinder toward ourselves.  Let us remember that as we wait upon the Lord, we are becoming “saints through His atonement, … submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon us, even as a child doth submit to his father.

      Elder Robert D. Hales - October 2011 General Conference "Waiting Upon the Lord: They Will Be Done"

      https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/waiting-upon-the-lord-thy-will-be-done?lang=eng

Trusting in the Lord Develops Other Virtues

·        To hope and trust in the Lord requires faith, patience, humility, meekness, long-suffering, keeping the commandments, and enduring to the end.  To wait upon the Lord means planting the seed of faith and nourishing it “with great diligence, and … patience."

     

      Elder Robert D. Hales - October 2011 General Conference, "Waiting Upon the Lord: Thy Will Be Done"

     https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/waiting-upon-the-lord-thy-will-be-done?lang=eng

We Develop Meekness Through Learning How to Love Better

It is only when we love God and Christ with all of our hearts, souls, and minds that we are able to share this love with our neighbors through acts of kindness and service—the way that the Savior would love and serve all of us if He were among us today.  When this pure love of Christ—or charity—envelops us, we think, feel, and act more like Heavenly Father and Jesus would think, feel, and act. Our motivation and heartfelt desire are like unto that of the Savior.

Elder M. Russell Ballard - April 2011 General Conference "Finding Joy Through Loving Service"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/finding-joy-through-loving-service?lang=eng

Standing Your Ground

Even as we seek to be meek and to avoid contention, we must not compromise or dilute our commitment to the truths we understand. We must not surrender our positions or our values. The gospel of Jesus Christ and the covenants we have made inevitably cast us as combatants in the eternal contest between truth and error.
Loving-kindness is required, but a follower of Christ—just like the Master—will be firm in the truth.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks - October 2014 General Conference "Loving Others and Living with Differences"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/loving-others-and-living-with-differences?lang=eng

Sacrament Responsibility

If the emblems of the sacrament‍ are being passed and you are texting or whispering or playing video games or doing anything else to deny yourself essential spiritual food, you are severing your spiritual roots and moving yourself toward stony ground. 

Elder Dallin H. Oaks - April 2015 General Conference "The Parable of the Sower"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/the-parable-of-the-sower?lang=eng

My Thoughts on Acceptng Our Weaknesses

As humans it is in our nature to want to see ourselves as better than we really are, to not accept our flaws and weaknesses.  However, in not accepting ourselves as we truly are, weaknesses and all, we are damned.  We cannot progress if we are unwilling to admit that progression is needed.  The more humble we become and the more willing to become truly self-aware, the more the Lord can help us make our weaknesses into strengths.  I have become very intrigued with the characteristic of meekness.  I believe that this self-examination concept is the key to becoming meek.  Meekness is not weakness.  I think it is a power that comes from being totally self-aware.  You are not easily ruffled.  You are not puffed up in thinking you are better than anyone else, or even better than what you really are.  This is something I want to study out more.  I do know that we are really rejecting the atonement if we are unwilling to accept that we are flawed and need it. By accepting our imperfectness we allow the Lord to help make us better and more like Him.

Becomng True Disciples of Christ

The holy scriptures and the talks given at general conference are an effective mirror we can hold up for self-examination.

We must approach our Eternal Father with broken hearts and teachable minds. We must be willing to learn and to change. And, oh, how much we gain by committing to live the life our Heavenly Father intends for us.

Those who want to improve and progress, those who learn of the Savior‍ and desire to be like Him, those who humble themselves as a little child and seek to bring their thoughts and actions into harmony with our Father in Heaven—they will experience the miracle of the Savior’s Atonement. They will surely feel God’s resplendent Spirit. They will taste the indescribable joy that is the fruit of a meek and humble heart. They will be blessed with the desire and discipline to become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf - October 2014 General Conference "Lord, Is It I?"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/lord-is-it-i?lang=eng

Opening Opportunities Through Self-Awareness

Many of us have a difficult time seeing ourselves as we truly are, and even successful people overestimate their own contribution and underestimate the contributions that others make...  But when we start believing that our contributions at home, at work, and at church are greater than they actually are, we blind ourselves to blessings and opportunities to improve ourselves in significant and profound ways. . .

Being able to see ourselves clearly is essential to our spiritual growth and well-being.  If our weaknesses and shortcomings remain obscured in the shadows, then the redeeming power of the Savior cannot heal them and make them strengths.  Ironically, our blindness toward our human weaknesses will also make us blind to the divine potential that our Father yearns to nurture within each of us.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf - October 2014 General Conference "Lord, Is It I?"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/lord-is-it-i?lang=eng

Tryng to Understand the Gift of Grace

Trying to understand God’s gift of grace with all our heart and mind gives us all the more reasons to love and obey our Heavenly Father with meekness and gratitude. As we walk the path of discipleship, it refines us, it improves us, it helps us to become more like Him, and it leads us back to His presence.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf - April 2015 General Conference "The Gift of Grace"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/the-gift-of-grace?lang=eng

Becoming Humble

The greatest, most capable, most accomplished man who ever walked this earth was also the most humble. He performed some of His most impressive service in private moments, with only a few observers, whom He asked to “tell no man” what He had done.  When someone called Him “good,” He quickly deflected the compliment, insisting that only God is truly good.  Clearly the praise of the world meant nothing to Him; His single purpose was to serve His Father and ‘do always those things that please him.” We would do well to follow the example of the Master.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf - April 2015 General Conference "On Being Genuine"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/on-being-genuine?lang=eng

Becoming As a Child

But King Benjamin, who understood as well as any mortal what it meant to be a man of strength and courage, makes it clear that to be like a child is not to be childish. It is to be like the Savior, who prayed to His Father for strength to be able to do His will and then did it. Our natures must be changed to become as a child to gain the strength we must have to be safe in the times of moral peril.

We are safe on the rock which is the Savior when we have yielded in faith in Him, have responded to the Holy Spirit’s direction to keep the commandments long enough and faithfully enough that the power of the Atonement has changed our hearts. When we have, by that experience, become as a child in our capacity to love and obey, we are on the sure foundation.

President Henry B. Eyring - April 2006 General Conference "As a Child"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/as-a-child?lang=eng

Using Agency to Control Tempers and Pride

When we with faith control our tempers and subdue our pride, the Holy Ghost gives His approval, and sacred promises and covenants become sure.

President Henry B. Eyring - April 2012 General Conference "Families Under Covenant"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/families-under-covenant?lang=eng