Sunday School

Sunday school had a lesson that I thougt was very strengthening. Sister Canon talked about how fear and panic should be replaced by faith and preparation. I never really considered things that way before. She then related the following story:

"An elder Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, 'A fight is going on inside me... It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, pride and superiority. The other wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside of you and every other person too.'

They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, 'Which wolf will win?'

The old Cherokee simply replied, 'The one I feed.'"

The idea was to feed your faith and preparation instead of your fear and panic, which makes perfect sense.

There was another story she related that really stuck with me and that was this:

On November 1, 1857, Elder George A. Smith delivered a memorable discourse, which included this old Chinese fable:

“A man travelling through the country came to a large city, very rich and splendid; he looked at it and said to his guide, ‘This must be a very righteous people, for I can only see but one little devil in this great city.’

“The guide replied, ‘You do not understand, sir. This city is so perfectly given up to wickedness … that it requires but one devil to keep them all in subjection.’

“Travelling on a little farther, he came to a rugged path and saw an old man trying to get up the hill side, surrounded by seven great, big, coarse-looking devils.

“ ‘Why,’ says the traveller, ‘this must be a tremendously wicked old man! See how many devils there are around him!’

“ ‘This,’ replied the guide, ‘is the only righteous man in the country; and there are seven of the biggest devils trying to turn him out of his path, and they all cannot do it.’ ”

That, I thought, was a very powerful message. I got goosebumps all up and down my arm.