Are you better today than you were last year?

A couple of weeks ago in Sacrament Meeting one of the speakers told of an experience he had when meeting with one of the former Stake Presidency to get his temple recommend renewed. President Bott asked all the normal questions, but also threw in another one: "Are you better today than you were last year?"

That question has caused my some introspection. He did not ask if we are better off, but rather, are we better?

The world teaches, in its own way, the first question that President Bott did not ask, "Are we better off?" a few examples of this are:

“A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” ~Author Unknown

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” ~Bill Vaughan

“Many people look forward to the new year for a new start on old habits.” ~Author Unknown

But a few wise people also see the more important second question, "Are we better?":

“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.” ~Benjamin Franklin

“Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” ~Hal Borland

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

“We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential.” ~Ellen Goodman

This past year has been an enlightening one for me. Perhaps, for the first time, I have experienced real physical challenges. In saying that, I do not mean that I have never been injured before, nor gone through surgery. Rather, for the first time in my life, I experienced physical challenges that are simply the result of age and a lifetime of activity, rather than a single event.

Thankfully, the two surgeries are done and I have recovered well. I have learned a thing or two from it all. First, I really did not suffer much. Second, it has become obvious to me that our responses to adversity and suffering may be the real test of life.

I have seen within my own life this past year an increased feeling of compassion and a softening of my heart toward what others are experiencing. I doubt others have noticed it in me, because it is easier to have feelings than to translate them into actions, but the experiences of the past year have left me with more feelings of gentleness and empathy towards others. My heart aches for some of my family members that are experiencing challenges that seem unfair or excessive.

Sister Patricia T. Holland said this:

"If we seem to lack something found in the homes of our prophets, maybe what we've suffered is not too much affliction but too little. Could it be that the answers are only to be found on our knees as our prophets were required to do while waiting patiently on the Lord?" (Patricia T. Holland, "Within Whispering Distance of Heaven," in Woman to Woman, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1986], p. 120.)

And Elder Neal A. Maxwell said:

"In fact, adequacy in the first estate may have merely insured a stern second estate with many duties and no immunities. Additional schooling by suffering appears to be the pattern for the Lord's most apt pupils." (Neal A. Maxwell, "But for a Small Moment", [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1986], p. 89.)

Which brings me back to the original question, am I better today than I was a year ago?

My observations of others has shown that suffering and adversity always results in either the person becoming hardened, bitter, and more callous, or in becoming more pliant and bending their will to that of the Lord's.

Anita Canfield said:

"Enduring well is not a passive 'hanging on' until our suffering is over. Enduring well, enduring patiently, submitting patiently has nothing to do with strain, tension, misery, or repression. It has everything to do with meekness, gratitude, desire, and love." (Anita Canfield, A Woman For All Seasons, [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1986], p. 125.)

Lauri and I just read again King Benjamin's address to his people. It means more to me today than any other time I have read it! Perhaps that is the answer to the question. Adversity can make us saints if we do not fend it off so successfully that we never really experience it.