Thanks to my dear 78 yr. old Mother, we have a weekly family newsletter that is emailed out each Monday. My dear Dad, age 81, a retired Engineering Professor, wrote the following this week and it touched me so much that I wanted to share. It's something I've also been recently studying and pondering is needful for us all.
"While reading in 2 Nephi 2:6-8 it occurred to me that one of our main goals in life should be to obtain a broken-heart and a contrite spirit – and that life’s challenges and tests are to help us achieve this goal. In looking up the definitions I also found the words of Rudyard Kipling admonishing the British Empire against pride:
The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart.
Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Broken heart: submissive; willing to do anything and everything God asks of us without resistance or resentment; ceasing to do things our way and learn to do them God’s way instead; deep gratitude for Christ’s suffering on our behalf in Gethsemane and at Golgotha where His great heart literally broke with His all encompassing love for all of us.
Contrite spirit: feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for sin or shortcomings. God wishes us to keep our spirit in a state of contrition at all times as a protection because of our carnal natures we may sin at any time; Only a spirit of this kind can equip us to detect and mourn immediately all disharmony with the Holy Spirit in our words or deeds; and to acknowledge our faults when told of them without being defensive."
