Last Sunday I gave the lesson in Relief Society at church (yes, on our 2 year wedding anniversary haha).
The lesson was based on the conference talk by Elder Michael T. Ringwood titled “Truly Good and Without Guile”.
Prior to that Sunday, I was trying SO hard to get someone to cover the lesson for me because I did NOT want to teach on our anniversary. Will and I were planning on staying the night somewhere to celebrate our two years and to be honest I just didn’t want to stress about teaching that day.
However, no one I asked was able to sub the lesson for me & I also decided I didn’t want to spend the money to stay the night at a hotel. AAAND on top of all of that we ended up taking a babysitting gig with these cute kids.
As much as all of that should’ve bummed me out.. I’m SO glad everything worked out the way it did. Teaching the lesson that Sunday truly changed my life.
The entire topic of being “truly good and without guile” was something I was able to research in depth and learn so much about.
Some questions that jumped around in my head the weeks prior to the lesson were…
Where did the phrase “truly good and without guile” come from?
What does guile even mean?
How can I develop a personality that is truly good and without guile?
First off, Elder Ringwood began his talk explaining where the phrase came from.
He explains that in October, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said: “Over the course of my life, I have had the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the most competent and intelligent men and women this world has to offer. When I was younger, I was impressed by those who were educated, accomplished, successful, and applauded by the world. But over the years, I have come to the realization that I am far more impressed by those wonderful and blessed souls who are truly good and without guile.”1
The more I read that quote from President Uchtdorf the more I fell in love with it. Nowadays, it’s so incredibly easy to only look up to only those that are successful and applauded by the world. However, I believe it’s far more important to be impressed by those truly good people that focus their lives around serving others before themselves.
Secondly, what does guile even mean?
Online, guile is defined as: “insidious cunning in attaining a goal; crafty or artful deception; duplicity.”
I find guile to be defined as doing something with ulterior motives. Doing something for the fame and fortune. Deliberately trying to beat someone just to watch them lose. Going visiting teaching because you feel stupid saying “no” at the end of the month rather than going to visit sisters in your neighborhood because you genuinely care about their well-being. Only looking out for yourself. Hardly ever looking for ways to serve.
When I posed this question in my lesson, a darling elderly sister in my ward stated that the first thing she thinks of when it comes to being “without guile” are little children.
How true that is! Children that have an innocent heart and no thoughts of how they can bring another down.
And thirdly, how can I develop a personality that is truly good and without guile?
Oh man. I wish I knew the perfect answer to this one! It’s something I’m trying so hard to develop for myself.
From everyone’s contributions in my lesson on Sunday- I’ve concluded that in order to develop a personality that is truly good and without guile one should try to…
serve more
care less about yourself
pray more
gossip less
look up more
look less at your phone
focus on being present
be more genuine
and erase all ulterior motives in your life.
Aaaand there’s my blurb from my thoughts on my lesson last week. I learned so much from preparing/giving it and feel like it’s changed my outlook for the better.
Also watch this video: Unselfish Service if you’re interested!
-Liv
