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Tender Mercies

I am preparing to take the AICP exam (it’s the planner’s certification program) in May. I have been given a study guide prepared by someone in Washington D.C. whose name does not appear in the text – at least, not that I’ve been able to identify. The last paragraph of the preface states, “A similar motivational concept from a Native American seer, Alma, advises that one should be ‘...looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruits thereof...’” quoting from Alma 32:40.

I don’t know who this guy is, but he’s obviously a member. I am also not sure what prompted him to include this verse in this particular text. It seems a little incongruous and out of context in this setting, but there it is. My mission president cited this scripture often and made it the focus of our mission work – to look with the eye of faith. I have cultivated the ability to look at others with this eye of faith and see them not for who they are, but for who they could be. It is something that has served me well over the years since my mission.

I’ve just never turned that eye inward.

Now I find myself having to do that. I have never afforded myself the same opportunities that I have so frequently given to others, never seen in myself the goodness and ability and talent that is there. It is a difficult thing, as I plumb the depths of my soul, to come to grips with who I am and realize that it’s good enough for God to love and for Christ to atone for. It’s something I think I knew academically, but has never come home to me before.

So here I am, finding myself in tears (again!) (it’s becoming a frequent occurrence for me lately)(I’m glad I work alone in my office… :D) and grateful for an anonymous writer who was brave enough to quote Alma in a scholarly forum. God really does love me, doesn’t He? Look at the simple, tender mercies He extends to someone like me....

Comments

Joy and Dennis said…
Yes, Bill,I do believe that He loves you, and it amazes me that someone who is so genuinely kind and outwardly warm and tender to others does not see that so obvious truth....it truly amazes me....
March 7, 2011 at 7:24 AM
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