Charity Is Not Puffed Up

Before my mission, I loved Super Smash Brothers. My friends and I would play it all the time. Once Melee came out, I became a fan of Jigglypuff, and this continued over to Brawl. Brawl added final smashes to the game, powerful moves unique to the character. Jigglypuff being a small puff ball, got the final smash puff up which causes it to swell to colossal sizes pushing away all in the way of its growth spurt. Naturally, I would, on small stages, grab a smash ball, go to the center of the stage and unleash the final smash and watch as I engulfed the stage and my opponents go flying. What does this have to do with the gospel?

When using puff up, I thought of everyone as my enemy, and I just wanted to see them disappear off the stage. I was not thinking about helping others (who would in a game about fighting). I was focused on myself and getting what I wanted, in this case first place.

When teaching about charity, both Paul and Mormon describe charity as "not puffed up" (see Moroni 7:45 and 1 Corinthians 13:4). For me in Super Smash Brothers Brawl, being puffed up meant I was selfish and cared too much about reaching my goal of being the last one standing that I would push away all others. I, or at least Jigglypuff, gained a big head and became the center of attention.

If this is being puffed up, then to not be puffed up, we seek to help others; we seek to help others accomplish their goals even if it means we may not at times. I didn't have to win every time I played, but I was focused too much and winning that I didn't care if some people were not having fun because they continually lost. It also means that we don't have to be the center of attention, we know that everyone has talents, so we let them stand out and use their talents. To not be puffed up we appreciate others talents and seek to build them up instead of tearing them down.

Another thing we can do is to draw people together. As Jigglypuff, when I was puffed up, I pushed all away from me. We are all children of our Heavenly Father and as such, we should seek to unite our family and share all the good things we have.

Remember...