I listened to a GREAT talk from Elder Eyring this morning. As I listened, I found myself just hanging on every word. Isn’t it incredible how the Lord knows exactly what you need? I immediately re-played the talk and tried to glean more from his words.
Principles that lead to greater unity:
- Revelation - What would He have us do?
- Keep Him in your decisions - in all of our interactions with others, by keeping this idea in the back of our minds, “what would He have me do?”, we can tap into the decision making power of the Lord… it makes potentially difficult conversations run smoothly and peaceably
- Humility - pride is the great enemy of unity
- Don’t let a discussion of what is true, become a contest of who is right.
- Stay open - we are all seeking truth and should be open to discover progress that others have made down that path to truth… and if you’re lucky, it is a path you haven’t gone down yet.
- Learn to be a peacemaker - search for ANYTHING on which you agree. Have the faith that as children of God, there will be truth that you share… and that is ALWAYS greater than any differences
- Children of God have more in common than they have differences, and even the differences can be seen as an opportunity - The Lord can help you see a difference NOT as a source of irritation, but as a contribution - He can help you see value in what another person brings which you lack.
- An experience I had two nights ago really highlighted this for me - Tanner Bowen and I could not have more different political beliefs. He believes Donald Trump is one of the best presidents that we have ever had... while I campaigned for and supported Bernie Sanders and fight for socialist policies. We discussed a myriad of topics and we disagreed on about every single one of them. And then we came to a beautiful realization - “we both love our country and we are both trying to solve problems to make people’s lives better”. Of course the two parties want us to hate each other and think that the “other side” is stupid, or evil, or malicious. And while it can be easy to fall into that thought process, it's NOT true.
- When we were able to see the common ground, and realize that it is more powerful than our differences, as stark as they may be, the whole spirit of the conversations changed.
- Speak well of each other
- Look for what is BEST in each other, not their worst
- Search for the good intent and trust that people are GOOD, that their intent is NOT malicious
- no need to speak ill of others behind their back - it only further divides you. Speak kindly and respectfully of all, especially those who think differently than you.
- The atonement brings the same changes in all of us
- We all should seek to repent and grow closer to God
Here is the link to the talk:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2008/10/our-hearts-knit-as-one?lang=eng
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