Neal A. Maxwell wrote:
“Meekness is a facilitator in the development of all the other Christian virtues. Combined with the other virtues, it supplies many human needs, including perspective (2 Peter 2:5-9 -scroll down). Determining whether we live myopically and selfishly or live for eternity is a fundamental decision that colors every day of daily life. To live a life of “thanksgiving daily” (** scroll down) while in the midst of adversity and it tutorials is impossible without a degree of meekness.
Furthermore, in the exchange between Jesus and a righteous young man, we can see how one missing quality cannot be fully compensated by other qualities, however praiseworthy: “The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him. . . sell that thou hast and and give to the poor. . . and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” (Matthew 19:20-22)
To be lacking in one quality or be casual about its serious development, as in the instance just noted, where the missing meekness prevented a submissive response, does alter one’s perspective and vital decisions. Meek individuals will be aware of their need to develop each of these cardinal qualities; being meek, they will initiate a program to develop them and steadily pursue that development, especially those virtues that may be lacking. . . What the unmeek actually do is refuse to enter the realm of their own spiritual possibilities.
Whether we are giving and receiving feedback, growing intellectually in order to understand truths we “never had supposed,” or remembering so that the Holy Ghost can preach to us from the pulpit of memory, the volume of blessings therefrom is determined by our meekness.
Granted, meek individuals are apt to have periodic public relations problems, being misrepresented and misunderstood. They will have to “take it” at times. Even so, there appears to be no other way to achieve certain learning except through the relevant clinical experiences. “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart,” Jesus said. Happily, that commandment carries an accompanying and compensating promise: “and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matthew 11:29.) This special form or rest surely includes the shedding of certain needless burdens, such as fatiguing insincerity, exhausting hypocrisy, and the strength-sapping quest for praise and power.
Those of us who fail in one way or another almost always do so because we carry unnecessary and heavy baggage. Thus overloaded, we then feel sorry for ourselves. We need not carry such baggage, but when we are not meek, we resist the informing voice of conscience and feedback from leaders, family friends and friends. Whether from preoccupation and pride, the warning signals go unnoticed and unheeded. However, if we have sufficient meekness, we will have help to jettison unneeded burdens and keep from becoming mired in the ooze of self-pity. Furthermore, the metabolism of meekness requires very little praise or commendation, of which there is usually such a shortage anyway. Otherwise, the sponge of selfishness quickly soaks up everything in sight, including praise intended for others. . . . ~Neal A. Maxwell, Meek and Lowly (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1987), 4-6
