Earlier, in my post on profanity, I posed the question about what words are appropriate in expressing our feelings. I think I got my answer on Saturday: let us 'never speak guile.'
Guile. noun. "insidious cunning in attaining a goal; crafty or artful deception; duplicity. "
Nowhere in the definition of guile is mentioned the type of language or our choice of words in communicating. I believe the Lord is more concerned with personal honesty. Our self-righteous lips may utter no profanity, but if we intend to deceive others with pleasing words, then we have denied the Lord's expectations for us.
2 comments:
Amen. Picking up on your other post... I'd rather hear a string of four-lettered words that are honest, than a bunch of polished and poetic lies.
Here is more on my initiatory experience at the Temple. I wrote this as a comment elsewhere, and I copy it here to remind myself and others of the humble power which the Spirit can have in our lives, and it is often through others that we feel its sweet influence:
A couple weeks ago I went to the temple to support a young man receiving his endowment, and having arrived later than I should have, the session was full and I was unable to attend with him. So I chose to do initiatory ordinances instead, as it had been some time since I had done this, and it would take less time than the endowment session I missed, which meant I could still meet him in the Celestial Room.
So I was about halfway through my list of names when the brother at the end of the initiatory ceremony changed and someone new stepped in. He looked me in the eye and began to recite the blessing, but then his voice changed. The lines in his well-seasoned face softened and he started speaking to me, my soul, not just to the name I was holding. We were both overcome by the Holy Ghost. I watched a small tear well up in his eyes, as if he knew me deeply, loved me, knew what I had been through. The blessing was pronounced with such certainty, such compassion, it could have been as though it were Jesus clothing me with his love.
Tomorrow morning I will go back to the temple, looking forward to the calm feeling inside holy walls, to accompany this soon-to-be-departing missionary through one more time before he enters the MTC next week, on my birthday. He is a young man that has struggled for confidence and identity. He is humble and loving. I hope I too can pass along a blessing of spiritual affirmation that will carry him through on the wings of the spirit as he enters the mission field.
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