Admiration and Emulation

My favorite part about Elder L. Tom Perry's talk, Finding Lasting Peace and Building Eternal Families is something he shared in the first few paragraphs.

Men and women are shaped partly by those among whom they choose to live. Those to whom they look up and try to emulate also shape them. Jesus is the great Exemplar. The only way to find lasting peace is to look to Him and live.

 It reminded me of a quote I saw on Facebook a long time ago:

Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of a man you are. It shows me what your ideal of manhood is, and what kind of a man you long to be.
-Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle and L. Tom Perry aren't the only people to suggest the idea of becoming like those whom you admire. The link between admiration and emulation is a strong one, and it reveals the great importance of admiring only those who are truly admirable. Thankfully, there are many good people in history that match that description. But no man in history is more admirable than Jesus Christ, which leads me to another good quote from Elder Perry's talk:

To be a Christian is to admire Jesus so sincerely and so fervently that the whole life goes out to him in an aspiration to be like him.
-Charles Edward Jefferson

Whether such emulation happens naturally or by conscious choice, we tend to become like the people we admire. Those we look up to have a great impact on who we become. We should be very selective in who we give that kind of power. Jesus is worthy of it, as are many others, but there are several more people who aren't worth copying. Those people aren't worth idolizing either, or even spending time with. If those whom we admire and those with whom we spend time have such a strong influence on who we become as people, we should be careful to only admire and spend time with those like whom we'd like to be.