Pride, Prejudice, and Prophets

The short version:

It was announced during General Conference that "We will be pleased to hear from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland."

I said, "We certainly will be," with a sidelong, smiling glance at my wife.

"Don't worry," she responded comfortingly. "You can like him. 'You've liked many a stupider person.' "*

For the longer version that makes this even more hilarious, look beneath the fold
Joy and I had a conversation last night. During our scripture reading about upholding the prophets and apostles, Joy got on her soapbox for a moment. She confessed to being bothered when someone has a "favorite" apostle. The problem isn't liking an apostle, or feeling that one apostle connects with you very well. It's that picking favorites inevitably leads to a discussion of apostles people don't like as much and what's "wrong" with them. Without overstating her point, she encouraged me to set a positive example for our children in how I speak of the people God has called to lead His Church. We are of one accord.

So, yes, I am regularly pleased to hear from Elder Holland.

Would only that Joy could, in justice and honesty, apply the rest of the quote to me as well: "Oh! you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in any body. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in my life."






* - ADDENDUM: For those who are confused, we both love Elder Holland. Joy even got to hug his wife once at the Palmyra Temple. That's part of what made her comment hilarious to me. "It was just a quote from a movie that came to mind. I thought it was more about my beloved Derrill than the person we were talking about." I took it that way too.