Be Ye Perfect

Let's take a look at a commandment right quick, shall we? 

Mathew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. 

Wow. Do you feel overwhelmed? Do you feel like you aren't enough? Do you feel like you will never be able to live up to what you are supposed to be?

If so, please stop. This process that we are all going through is a process of becoming. Our Heavenly Father doesn't expect us to just snap our fingers, wiggle our noses, and then never do anything wrong ever again. No, He really just asks us to do our best to become like him. My Book of Mormon teacher, Dr. Larry Nelson, has given me a lot of great analogies and ideas recently. Let me just share a couple.

Dr. Nelson entered his boy in a sort of sheep-riding competition years ago. His son got on the sheep, and stayed on for a very long time before he fell face-down in the dirt. At this point, Dr. Nelson ran to his son, and picked him up. The boy started crying, and the dirt covering his face turned into streaming mud. Dr. Nelson looked at him, trying to think of how to react, and eventually he said, "Wow, son. You were so great. How was that? Was that fun?" And then his son, trying to control himself, replied "Yes, dad. But I don't want to ride the bull tonight."

I think a lot of times we get so caught up in what we have not done, or what we have yet to do, that we fail to recognize or feel joy in all of the great things that we have done. Maybe like Dr. Nelson's son we think to ourselves, "Yeah, I read my scriptures, and said my prayers, and helped someone today, but I still haven't written in my journal, done my family history, gone to the temple, planned Suzy's birthday party, bench-pressed 694 pounds, or gone to the moon." We simply can't do it all, but the beauty is: we don't have to. This is a process of becoming. Becoming like Him. 

Dr. Nelson used another great analogy: we have seen a lot of good drivers in our lives. We have sat in the back seat, in the passenger seat. How many times have we seen people drive? But when we get in the driver's seat for the first time, we are not good drivers. We have to become good drivers. This life is not about being a good driver. It's about becoming a good driver. We can't just see our Heavenly Father and be exactly like Him; we must become like Him.

My teacher expounded on this principle of becoming. He said that apostles have said that in the pre-mortal existence that we were taught in theory. Maybe we were taught the Word of Wisdom, and we said, "Really? That's it? That's all I need to do to be like Him? I can do that. How hard could that be?" And then we got here, tasted our first bit of chocolate and thought, "Oh, really hard." Or maybe we were taught the law of chastity, and we said, "Really, I think you're making a big deal of this. How hard could that be?" And then we got here and hit puberty and said, "Oh, really hard."

Elder Christofferson said, "Your Savior wants you to become something, not just do some things." When a child takes his first step, do we say "Wow, big deal. Now let me see you run a marathon! Go on then!"? NO! We jump up and down, and scream, and clap because we see it as a huge step in his development. We should be doing the same thing with our own spiritual progression. "Woohoo! I read today! I prayed today! I challenged myself, and I became something new."

"The atonement in not just about paying debt, but transforming debtors."

Mosiah 5:7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.

If you feel overwhelmed, take a step back, and look at the great things you have already done. Then just choose one thing to work on, something that will help you become more like Him. If you need help choosing something, I urge you to look to the Book of Mormon. Larry Nelson said that it is the "textbook for our process of becoming." I have read it, and I know that it is true! I know that Heavenly Father loves all of His children, each one of you. Everyone is important, and everyone is in their own process of becoming.

This video hit home recently, and really goes along with this topic well. Please watch it! 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3792885561001&cid=HPFR091914425

I recently did a project for my drawing class. It is a contour drawing, meaning you should be able to draw it all without every having to lift your pen. We couldn't use pencil first, so the mistakes I made were permanent. Luckily for us, the mistakes we make here don't have to be permanent. They can be washed away through the healing power of Jesus Christ, through the atonement. Forgiveness is a gift available to us all. Don't ever sell yourself short by accepting your mistakes as permanent. You can change, and He will help you.

Maybe this week we can try to help others, to put ourselves in other's shoes. Walk His paths, for they bring peace.