How The Mighty Have Fallen!

Day two hundred fifty-four

I am grateful for another Sabbath day to start my week off.  I have a crazy busy week coming up and I need to make sure that I keep my spiritual self filled!  I love having the opportunity to stop and think about the Savior while I take the sacrament, it helps me keep my priorities straight.  Hopefully, I will carry this into the rest of my week!

2 Samuel 1

In the first chapter of 2 Samuel we find David lamenting over the death of Saul and Jonathan.  There is one phrase that he repeats 3 times in his speech:  How the mighty have fallen! (vv 19, 25, 27).  I think there is more to this statement than just Saul and Jonathan, I think he is talking about the Israelites as a nation.

This phrase got me thinking about the "mighty" people that I have seen fall in my lifetime.  There have been sports figures, politicians, friends, religious leaders, parents, and even countries.  I have only been around for the last 44 years and the "mighty" that have fallen would take pages to name.   

There is a sadness that comes with each and every one of these fallen, not because of the effect it has had on their lives, but on those around them. 

The Mighty            Who is Affected...    
Sports figure          teammates and fans (sometimes numbering in the millions)
Politicians              constituents and sometimes whole countries
Friends                   friends and family, sometimes for generations
Religious leader    congregation, the community, sometimes the world
Parents                   their children and many generations after them
Country                   inhabitants, but also can have global reach

Each one of them has far-reaching consequences for their actions.  It is the same with Saul, his fall brought about wars and death for his people.  The whole nation of Israel was put at risk. 

Here's the reality of it, we are all counted among the "mighty".  Each of us will be a friend in our lifetime, many will hold positions in their churches, and most will choose to have a family.  It is a little scary to see yourself in these positions knowing that you could be responsible for other people's disappointment, sadness, pain, anger, and all the other feelings that come to someone when their hero has fallen.  So what are we to do about it?

There will be some people that will spend their lifetime avoiding situations that put them in this position, but is that really a good life?  How can we progress if we never learn to lead?  I don't think we necessarily need to seek out being one of the "mighty", but recognize that the opportunities will be placed before us.  I think we should welcome the opportunities to lead, but learn from the mistakes of those from the past.  We have to seek guidance from the right sources and we need to surround ourselves with righteous people.  The kind of people that will speak up when we need to hear some positive criticism.  We need to remember to keep our pride in check and to humble ourselves when needed.  We need to realize that we are imperfect and we will make mistakes, but we can repent and ask for forgiveness.  We need to remember that our actions have far-reaching consequences and make decisions with those consequences in mind.  We need to be an example of Christ-like attributes for those that we lead and to lead as the Savior told us, by serving others.

How should we behave if we are the one following?  David grieves for the fallen and he shows the respect that their positions held.  I think that it is safe to say that those actions would be appropriate for us too.  I think we tend to put people on a pedestal and expect perfection from an imperfect soul.  I don't know if that is fair to either party involved.  Maybe a more realistic and less romanticized view of each other would be beneficial, along with an understanding that we might not be able to control the actions of another person, but we certainly can control how we react to it.

It would be nice to say: Oh, how the mighty have fallen! But out of the fall we will find strength!