Me Thinks

I have been thinking about two words and these pictures help me envision the meaning of the words.  The two words are indulge and subdue.  

A wild horse is undomesticated, rebellious, untamed, willful, stubborn, and without constraint.

An indulgent lifestyle is one in which a person does whatever he wants regardless of the consequences. Natural desires are satisfied without constraint, and there is no foresight or restraint to temper actions. One who is excessively indulgent does things, or partakes of things, even when they are not good for them. 

On the other hand, a tamed horse is tractable, meaning it can be controlled or influenced. A tamed horse can be led, taught, and managed.  A tamed horse is useful, pliable, and malleable. 

To subdue is to bring under control or to overcome.  I am thinking about this word in relation to self-mastery, and how we must subdue or control ourselves, becoming pliable and useful to the Lord.

Mosiah 3:19--For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been since the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. 

Alma 7:23--And now I would that ye should be humble and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.