You guys are probably sick of me baring my whole entire soul on here, so this will be brief and not from me. Hopefully, these words I heard yesterday can inspire kindness and gentleness towards others and ourselves:
The principles of righteous judgment apply to all of us, especially to parents who have a daily opportunity to use these principles with their children. To effectively teach a child is the very essence of good parenting, and to lovingly discipline is the very essence of being a righteous judge.
President Joseph F. Smith taught, “If children are defiant and difficult to control, be patient with them until you can conquer by love.”
The scriptures teach us to reprove “when moved upon by the Holy Ghost,” not when moved upon by anger. The Holy Ghost and anger are incompatible because “he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger.” President George Albert Smith taught that “unkind things are not usually said under the inspiration of the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord is a spirit of kindness; it is a spirit of patience; it is a spirit of charity and love and forbearance and long suffering. …
“… But if we have the spirit of fault finding … in a destructive manner, that never comes as a result of the companionship of the Spirit of our Heavenly Father and is always harmful.
“… Kindness is the power that God has given us to unlock hard hearts and subdue stubborn souls.”
I love that he refers to kindness as a God-given power; I hadn’t thought of it like that before. You’d think anger had power but it’s an illusion. Hollow. It’s force whereas kindness is a force for good. Kindness, not anger, takes strength. Kindness, not anger, makes change. And kindness, not anger or yelling or intimidating, conquers.
Happy Sunday, everybody.
xo
eb