When my friend called me last week we talked about how when she was trying to make changes in her life and I didn't want to go along with the program, I wasn't capable of doing what she was asking of me. Then when I finally got around to being able to do what she was asking for, she said that she isn't capable of doing what I was asking of her.
I started to think of capabilities and vulnerabilities and God. And guess what? I'm still confused but think I might be on to something.
In Tad Callister's "The Infinite Atonement" he talks about how the Atonement opens up new capabilities that were not previously ours, a whole new cache of spiritual powers that "add upon" and are given to man with godly traits that he cannot access or have by himself. My downfall and utter failure in the friendship with my friend at the time was that I did not apply this principle. I was not repenting and looking to God. I was stuck in the pit. I was not trying to utilize the Atonement in order to do what my friend was asking of me which was good and right. It's kind of like no matter how much I want to be able to fly, I cannot do so without some Godly power. My muscles, as strong as they are, lol, cannot do the job. I could not get out of the pit I was in at that time without calling upon the Atonement and the powers of heaven.
Then I remembered a little short video that TD Jakes did about forgiveness and talking about capabilities. He talked about if you expect someone to love on a gallon level and they are a pint person, you will be disappointed. He said if you're a gallon type person, you can't expect a pint person to be able to fill your needs. Or something along those lines. He also said you can't expect a broken radio to work like a new one.
In the case of my friend and I, I believe it was our capabilities of the moment, not capabilities within us. Okay, I'm fully aware if you are still awake and reading this that I probably lost you on my lack of being able to communicate what's in my head. I'm trying to say that with God all things are possible. What she was asking at the moment I wasn't capable of doing, what I am asking of her at the moment she said she's not capable of doing either. But I believe what she was asking of me was right and good and what I am asking of her is right and good. So with God we could've been capable. With God all things are possible and the Atonement makes this so.
I was and am asking to be loved on a gallon level and she is a pint person. That's not fair to her to have expectations like that. She can't meet those and shouldn't be asked to meet those. However, even as I'm typing this, I don't believe she is a pint person. I believe she is probably a hundred gallon tanker. She embraces love, compassion, empathy, and kindness. However, she needs to discover that for herself. Despite her weaknesses or mine, the capacity to be what God wants us to be, gallon people, is possible.
Our capabilities are endless when we involve God and are willing to be vulnerable and ask for our needs to be met, when we ask for help with our weaknesses, and when we pour our soul to Him then He looks to help us.
Here is the video referenced in this post. He mentions having compassion and understanding of people...take a look. I love what he says when Oprah asks, do we keep pint people around? He says first, they are not lying to you. They are giving you what they can. You are saying I need more love and they are giving you all that they can. They empty themselves out and you have a capacity for more. Irrigate your life with more gallon people.
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