When Do You Visit the G&SB Diner? — 1 Nephi 11–15
Come, Follow Me: Book of Mormon 2024 (January 22–28)
We often think of the Great and Spacious Building as only a place where one owns an apartment with a view. But I think it has a diner, the G&SB Diner, and that’s where I go when my heart hardens and I’m no longer listening to the Spirit. My stay can be quick, in-and-out, or can last hours. I work hard to not rent a room in the building for days.
Ezra Taft Benson in his landmark talk, Beware of Pride, lists a long description of menu choices. The ones I order most often are:
Valuing the approval of men and women more than the praise of God
Competing and comparing to have more
Rationalizing less-than-Godlike choices
Listening to the world’s shouts more than the whisperings of the Holy Ghost
Letting my will prevail.
President Benson acknowledges that pride affects all of us at various times and in various degrees. We all visit the diner (it’s why the building is so large and spacious)! With this reality, here are two important questions to consider: 1) When am I in the G&SB diner? 2) How long will I stay?
Can’t you just feel the “diner vibe” when Nephi asks his brothers “Have ye inquired of the Lord?” and they reply, “We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us” (1 Ne 15: 8,9). These guys became so comfortable in pride, they took over running the breakfast rush.
Murmuring, blaming, judging, feeling angry, hopeless, and helpless, wanting to give up, are just a few common signs that you’re partaking of pride pie. Above all, the light of the Holy Ghost is dim to non-existent in this place. This diner has no electricity, no power, only darkness with occasional sparks of contention.
Getting up and leaving the diner door begins with recognizing this is not a place of light, safety, growth, or truth. We can then look up, look out and leave. “When dark clouds of trouble hand o’er us and threaten our peace to destroy, There is hope smiling brightly before us, and we know that deliverance is nigh” (We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet hymn).
Do Hard Divinely Better Lesson #3: Identify the signals that you’re in a place of pride. What are your thoughts, your behaviors, and your emotions when you’re facing away from God and His love?