Talk: Perfect in Christ

 Perfection in Christ

August 28, 2022

As I was pondering how to start my talk today, my mind somewhat randomly came to a phrase in my patriarchal blessing, which I think will be okay to share here. I am cautioned that at times Satan will attempt to bruise my heels and lead me astray. In the scriptures we read that Satan will have power to bruise our heels here in mortality, and I wondered what that really meant. So I Iooked up what it means to have a bruised heel, and Dr. Kenworthy over there confirmed that my internet search didn’t lead me too far astray, even if my medical terminology was incorrect. 

A bruised heel happens when the fat pad in your heel, which cushions the heel bone, is compressed and displaced, allowing the bone to bruise. 

It is caused by repetitive impact on the heel, especially from repetitive jumping or long-distance running (which happens to be my favorite sport. Not that I run that far these days, but if I’m going to do something, it’s usually running). Contributing factors are poor footwear and training errors, like increasing your training too far, too fast, or changing the surface you run on or your footwear you use without time to adapt. In short, it is an overuse injury.

I know this would have zero meaning to most people from a spiritual standpoint, but when I read that I caught my breath and had to stop for a minute, because I knew that this phrase was put there for a reason, for me. The Lord wanted to remind me right now that He knows me, and a main vulnerability to my spiritual well-being is overuse fatigue--expecting myself to be able to do more and be more right now, and being discouraged when I don’t measure up. 

But how do we reconcile all of the counsel we get to do better with the plain fact that we can’t do it all? This is something that I feel that the Lord has been teaching me over and over and over again. (Apparently I am not just a perfectionist, I am a stubborn perfectionist. But really, it’s something I’ve always struggled with)

In the past I have thought that if I was obedient enough I could do everything. Aren’t we promised that keeping the commandments will mean that we can run and not be weary and walk and not faint? It’s funny, given how much of my life I have spent running, how long it took me to actually learn about what all these scripture references to running mean in practice. We need to remember that the kind of stamina needed to run without becoming weary is only ever achieved by long, slow training, always with an eye to pacing. The Lord may ask me to run a marathon, but he doesn’t expect me to up and do it at World Championship pace right this second. Along that route, I need periods of slow runs, sprint and medley workouts to build speed, and lots of nourishment and rest.

I also like to pause when I hear the word, “shall.” This one came up a lot in my legal writing class way back when, because it really has multiple meanings. It can express what will happen, but it can also express a command. So commandment keeping will make it so that we will be able to run and not be weary, but if it’s a commandment as well as a promise, we need to do the practical things that keep us from getting weary: pacing ourselves, taking care of ourselves, making sure our shoes don’t get worn out and our form is proper, and sometimes taking a break or riding a bike or swimming instead of running at at all. Scriptures like Mosiah 4:27 explain how to do this: “And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.” The running really isn’t the important part here: it’s the diligence. And we enable ourselves to be consistent and diligent when we give ourselves a sustainable pace.

If you haven’t had enough misinterpreted scriptural running analogies, then I’m sorry but I’m on a roll so we are going to keep going. We often talk about running a race with respect to living the Gospel, and there is a lot we can learn from this analogy that is useful. Hebrews 12 encourages us to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” But I think this idea also can get us off track if we don’t understand the limits of the metaphor. The main characteristic of a race is competition. But living the Gospel, whose purpose is to redeem the whole human family, should be anything but a competition.

The girls on my high school cross-country team were all Christian, and our team scripture became 1 Corinthians 9:24: “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth a prize? So run, that ye may obtain. Great scripture, and it inspired me to run my hardest and try my best in more than just running. But 16-year-old me did not take time to understand the context of the rest of Paul’s message here. He continues: “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.” Oh, right there he is saying that we need to moderate our efforts and keep balance! Not just run flat out without stopping. “Now they (meaning the runners in a race) do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.” Right there Paul is saying that he is actually contrasting living the gospel with running a race to point out how they are different. “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.” 

As we run our race with temperance, we should remember that the eternal race isn’t at all about how ahead or behind we perceive ourselves to be compared to the people around us or reaching a certain righteousness index. Certainly as we follow Christ He will help us to overcome sins and temptations, but the important part really isn’t the progress metric, but the process itself. Because the moment we think that we don’t need Christ desperately, or don’t need HIm as much as other people, we are right back at the starting line. This reminds me of the Nephites who were there when Christ appeared. They heard a voice, and the first two times they didn’t understand it because they looked around at each other to try to figure out what was happening. It wasn’t until the third time that they looked steadfastly to heaven, and not to each other, that they were able to understand what the Lord had to say to them.

As I wrote about competition and comparison, in my mind's eye I saw our ward as my high school track practice, where lots of different athletes of different abilities are training. Some are jogging slowly, some are doing sprints, some are walking or stretching. They all have different abilities and strengths. They are all training for different events. Some are practicing shot put or pole vault. Some, like me at some points, are in the field house icing their shins or riding a stationary bike because they, shockingly, have an overuse injury. And I felt the love of the Savior, who would look on each of those athletes that He loves and not care an ounce what mistakes they had made or what struggles they had or what place they came in at the last meet. Knowling all these things, He would only care that they were there showing up, willing to be coached and stretched, willing to try because they trust HIm and trust in the process He has laid out for each of them, and they want to do their best.

I think that’s why another phrase has been coming back to me for the last several months: the Lord’s course is “one eternal round.” Like that track where we can all train and help one another, remembering as Paul did that worldly races are about winning but eternal races aren’t. 

I think it’s so interesting that we regularly have images of the Lord being on a straight path but also being on a round one. In Alma 7 he says:

“For I perceive that ye are in the paths of righteousness; I perceive that ye are in the path which leads to the kingdom of God; yea, I perceive that ye are making his paths straight.

“I perceive that it has been made known unto you, by the testimony of his word, that he cannot walk in crooked paths; neither doth he vary from that which he hath said; neither hath he a shadow of turning from the right to the left, or from that which is right to that which is wrong; therefore, his course is one eternal round.”

The path is straight because it is narrow and doesn’t vary, but it’s round because the Lord is always on the right and never going to the left (or to what is wrong). When it comes to my analogy we may need to run the track backwards so we will always be turning right, but otherwise, I think the metaphor holds. And I think it’s safe to say that if you feel like you are running in circles and your efforts aren’t taking you as far as you might like, you are still on the Lord’s path. If you make the same mistakes you’ve made before but you get up and try again, you are still on the Lord’s path. And it doesn’t matter where on that track you are as long as you are trying to listen to His voice and do what He asks. It just matters that you are there trying, and supporting the other people that are there training with you.

In my effort to run and not be weary, for the last good while I have been slowly going through the Book of Mormon again, trying to take time and to open myself up to what the Lord might teach me, not putting too much pressure on myself to finish a certain study plan or have a remarkable insight every time. I think it was no coincidence that when I received this assignment I had been working my way through Christ’s teachings to the Nephites in 3 Nephi for a week or so.

Then, what do you know, I open up the talk that Bishop Smith suggested I reference for this talk and immediately Elder Holland brought up those very passages! He said:

“The Sermon on the Mount begins with soothing, gentle beatitudes, but in the verses that follow, we are told--among other things--not only not to kill but also not even to be angry. We are told not only not to commit adultery but also not even to have impure thoughts. To those who ask for it, we are to give our coat and then give our cloak also. We are to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, and do good to them who hate us.

He continues, “If that is your morning scripture study, and after reading just that far you are pretty certain you are not going to get good marks on your gospel report card, then the final commandment in the chain is sure to finish the job: ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father…in heaven is perfect.’ With that concluding imperative, we want to go back to bed and pull the covers over our head. Such celestial goals seem beyond our reach. Yet surely the Lord would never give us a commandment He knew we could not keep.”

Part of the problem that Elder Holland alludes to here comes from the fact that the connotations of the word “perfect” in  modern English are different from the original meaning in the scriptures. And now we get to go back to the tried-and-true, stereotypical way to start a talk:

The dictionary defines the word perfect as: 

1. conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type:

2. excellent or complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement:

3. Unblemished, faultless, flawless

If we apply this definition to Jesus’ injunction, we are likely to despair. No matter how much I try and how much I trust and how much I repent, I don’t see a way for me to conform absolutely to the measure of Christ, to get to the point that I can’t make any theoretical improvement, or to be faultless or flawless. Just ask my boys how many times in a week I have to apologize to them because I reacted poorly to something. But despair is a tool of Satan, not God. Despair is how I’m prone to being led astray, thinking that I just can’t measure up and so it’s less painful not to try. We can similarly be led astray if we expect that righteousness should make others free from error too. If we expect righteousness to mean perfectionism, then every leader and prophet from the beginning of time down to Russell M. Nelson will be a disappointment. And if the prophets can’t be perfect, and we can’t be perfect, what’s the point? This is why Satan wants so badly for us to spend our time tearing ourselves and others down, using a measuring stick that isn’t scaled for grace and mercy and the pure love of Christ. 

Thankfully, this is not what Christ asks of us. President Nelson has taught that the word used in Matthew 5 is the Greek teleios, meaning complete. Its prefix, tele-, as in telephone or telegram, indicates something far off. Its verb form means to complete or to reach a distant end or goal. (CR Oct 1995, “Perfection Pending”)

This definition of perfection is so much more hopeful to me. It’s something I can work toward, little by little, with help; not something I have to demonstrate now to be worthy. It causes me to look up at the goal instead of down on myself. 

And I think that is a huge key to becoming perfect in Christ. It’s looking to Him instead of looking to our own strength and wisdom and understanding. It’s trusting that even though the gap between our expectations and our performance seems wide, He can use us for His purposes and, line upon line, make us like He is.

Back to Elder Holland’s talk, which is from October 2017 for anyone who would like to read it:

“‘Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him,...,’ Moroni pleads. “Love God with all your might, mind and strength, then … by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ.’ Our only hope for true perfection is in receiving it as a gift from heaven--we can’t ‘earn’ it. Thus, the grace of Christ offers us not only salvation from sorrow and sin and death but also salvation from our own persistent self-criticism.” 

I love to think about what it means to receive the gift of perfection from Christ like Elder Holland says rather than trying to earn it myself. When I think about the magnitude of that gift, I’m inspired to obey Him out of love and to give what I can to His other children. I don’t excuse my sins and mistakes, but I can forgive myself for them and resolve to keep on trying. That’s the difference between guilt vs. shame, between grace vs. perfectionism, and really between what Christ tells us about ourselves vs. what the adversary wants us to believe. We are supposed to have weakness so that Christ can mold us into the people He needs us to be.

So going back to those “soothing, gentle beatitudes” that Christ gives before asking us to live a higher, more demanding law, I see now why it was so important that they be given first. If we come up against the demands of the law and feel broken or weak, if we sin and we mourn and we feel like the poorest in spirit, then the law is having its proper effect on us: it has shown us our need for Christ. Remember the people who He blesses are poor, broken, meek, hungry, thirsty, and persecuted. These aren’t things we are trying to avoid, as we do in a worldly sense. These are things we are seeking after, because it’s not so much the achievements as the continual turning to HIm that He is looking for. It’s the broken heart that He wants, because it’s a broken heart that can let Him in to stretch and grow and change. “And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit.” (3 Nephi 9:20) Then if we turn to Him we will be blessed as He described!

 

Elder Holland put it this way:  “Brothers and sisters, every one of us aspires to a more Christlike life than we often succeed in living. If we admit that honestly and are trying to improve, we are not hypocrites; we are human. May we refuse to let our own mortal follies, and the inevitable shortcomings of even the best men and women around us, make us cynical about the truths of the gospel, the truthfulness of the Church, our hope for our future, or the possibility of godliness. If we persevere, then somewhere in eternity our refinement will be finished and complete--which is the New Testament meaning of perfection.”

With that in mind, my personal invitation for all of us is that we press forward toward perfection in the sense that we press forward toward Christ. We keep looking to Him, trying to do what He asks us with the understanding that He’ll provide the strength and the light and He can make our small and imperfect offerings able to accomplish His great work.

We can “be not weary in well-doing, for [we] are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great. Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind.” (D&C 64:33–34) Not perfection; desire and willingness. 

“[We] are not able to abide the presence of God now, neither the ministering of angels; wherefore, continue in patience until [we] are perfected.” (D&C 67:13)

We follow the counsel to “not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided…; but be diligent unto the end.” (D&C 10:3)

As Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve taught:

“As we seek new and holier ways to love God and help us and others prepare to meet Him, we remember that perfection is in Christ, not in ourselves or in the perfectionism of the world.

“God’s invitations are full of love and possibility because Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life.” To those who feel burdened, He invites, “Come unto me,” and to those who come to Him, He promises, “I will give you rest.” “Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, … love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ.”

I leave that invitation and my testimony that Jesus is the Christ, who took all of our sins and weaknesses and infirmities upon Himself so that He can make us whole, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Ammon and Great Missionary Work

 I have had plenty of lessons extolling Ammon as a missionary. And he was a great missionary. Most of  those focused on how he was willing to serve, how he was brave, and how God protected him and gave him power. All important things, but today my studies reminded me how normal Ammon was. And sometimes I need that because I don't see myself in heroes, but I do see myself in people who are trying, and don't really know what they are doing, but make an awkward attempt anyway. 

Let's recap Ammon's encounter with King Lamoni and see where I can relate.

Ammon arrives and is immediately arrested and brought before the king to see how he should be disposed of. The king asks if he desires to live among his people and Ammon says yes and reveals that he really doesn't know the long-term plan and may stay there forever for all he knows. 

Moving forward even though I don't have my future figured out? Been there, done that, doing that.

The king is happy with this answer and offers Ammon his daughter for a wife. Ammon declines and asks to be a servant. 

Attempt to tactfully dodge romantic advances that don't lead where I want to go? Did that a couple of times. 

Avoid awkwardness by being excessively helpful? Yes and yes.

Next Ammon goes out to work with the king's servants. Bad guys come and scatter the flocks, the servants melt down because they don't want to get killed, and Ammon sees an opportunity to show his power and win them over. 

Again with the excessive helpfulness. Right up my alley.

He helps them gather the sheep back together, but the bad guys are relentless and come back for more. Epic battle ensues in which Ammon kills six with his sling, then disarms his other attackers more literally than I like to imagine. 

This is the part that is usually emphasized in this story, and with which I relate 0%. I would not be cutting off any arms unless the Spirit straight up took over my brain and my body. I am not wired for blood and guts and certainly not for cutting off anyone's arms.

They head back to the king's complex and the rest of the guys bring back the loose arms. They take them to show the king while Ammon goes on to the next task they were supposed to do.

Avoiding attention? Not wanting to brag when I accomplished something that clearly wasn't my own strength? Being traumatized for harming people when I was trying to do what's right? Not wanting to show my face until my jobs are done? Yuppers.

Ammon finishes getting the king's horses ready and then goes back to report. When he walks in he can see that the king is looking troubled. Perhaps Ammon recalls how easily the king could call for his execution; he did just kill six of the king's subjects and severely maim several more. He was about to turn tail and back right out of that room when one of the servant addresses him with a title of high honor and asks him to stay.

Wanting to cut and run when I think someone may be mad at me? Most definitely yes.

Ammon gets bold and asks the king what he can do for him. And then he waits FOR AN HOUR. He stands there awkwardly for an hour.

This may be the thing I can relate to most of all. The pressure is on, I feel like I need to say something or explain myself or connect, and nothing. No words, brain racing and frozen at the same time.

After an hour Ammon asks again with no response, and THEN he is filled with the Spirit, at which time he asks the very obvious question of whether the king is troubled because he had just singlehandedly and superhumanly defended the king's flocks and servants. He is like, "What's so impressive about that? I'm just a man." And in this kind of obvious answer the Spirit speaks through him to King Lamoni, helps the latter articulate the real questions he has, and stops his brain paralysis.

Fumbling through just opening my mouth to say what the Lord might want me to say, feeling like maybe that didn't make any sense at all because I am really nothing, but somehow the Spirit speaks through that mess anyway? Exactly how I feel whenever I teach.

Ammon tells the king that he wants to serve him, and "whatsoever thou desirest which is right, that will I do."

Bonding through service? My go-to. The only way I know how to make friends and relate to people. I just want to do things for them and make them feel comfortable with me.

Ammon proceeds to answer the king's questions on the condition that the king will believe what Ammon says.

Not wanting to put myself out there if the person will reject the sacred thing I have to share? Yes yes yes.

I could go on but this covers the bulk of it. Of course I don't really know all of Ammon's personality, and I don't mean at all to downplay what a brave and bold missionary he was, but it is such a comfort to me to imagine these very human people feeling their way along in the work of the Lord and trusting that He will come through even when they don't know how that will all work out. That is something I feel like I can do for the cause, even if I'll never raise a sword in defense of the cause. So maybe I can liken Ammon's story to me after all.

The Broken Hearted

Sunday, September 20, 2020

It is good to be back with you. I thought we would stay home a bit longer, but after a lot of discussion with John we ultimately decided that our 8-year-old Luke’s baptism day would be a good day to come back. We no sooner made this decision, than John mentioned that he needed speakers for today and I hadn’t spoken in Sacrament Meeting in quite some time. I feel his motives were suspect but I’ll give the talk anyway. I was actually supposed to speak the first week that church was cancelled because of COVID-19, so maybe me finally speaking now will break the curse! Who knows? Regardless, I hope that I can share something meaningful with you today.

A while back John and I were reading the talk by Elder Renlund that became the basis for today’s topic, and this quote stuck with him so much that he texted it to himself from my phone so he wouldn’t lose it: “remember, joyfully and reverently, that the Savior loves to restore what you cannot restore; He loves to heal wounds you cannot heal; He loves to fix what has been irreparably broken; He compensates for any unfairness inflicted upon you; and He loves to permanently heal even shattered hearts.”

As I have been studying Come, Follow Me and pondering on how the Savior mends our broken hearts, I have found myself circling around a bit of a paradox in my mind. There are some scriptures that speak of the Lord’s ability to mend or bind up broken hearts:

Isaiah 61:1–The ​​​Spirit​ of the Lord ​​​​​God​​​ ​is​ upon me; because the ​​Lord​​ hath ​​​anointed​ me to ​​​preach​ ​​​good tidings​ unto the ​​​meek​; he hath sent me to ​​​bind​ up the brokenhearted, to ​​​proclaim​ ​​​liberty​ to the ​​​captives​, and the opening of the ​​​prison​ to ​them that are​ bound;

But as I searched I found that the vast majority of the scriptures on the topic speak of a broken heart as an offering to the Lord or a prerequisite for the companionship of His Spirit, as in this scripture from this week’s reading in the Book of Mormon. 

3 Nephi 9:20–And ye shall offer for a ​​​sacrifice​ unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I ​​​baptize​ with fire and with the Holy Ghost.

It got me wondering how these metaphors relate to one another and what that means for applying the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life. As I thought about this, two experiences came to mind.

The first was probably the most dramatic and trying experience of my life. Shortly after my 18th birthday, and this next part will date me quite a bit, our family received a fax that changed my life forever. At the time my dad had been working for his mother and step-father’s company in Japan, and was traveling back and forth between Tokyo and our home in the Central Coast of California. This time we hadn’t heard much from him after he arrived, and assumed things were busy at the office. But a few days later my sister and I found a hand-written fax on our machine with a little picture of an ambulance drawn on top. We couldn’t read Japanese so we didn’t know what it said, but I still remember that little drawing. We called my mom who quickly got in contact with the office in Japan, and it turns out my dad had suffered a stroke a few days previous and was in the hospital. My grandmother hadn’t told us, out of some mixture of fear and guilt and distress, but one of the employees at their small family company felt we should know and sent the message. We were assured that my dad was stable, and my mom and brother got on a plane as soon as they could to go be with him.

The next two days were full of assurances from doctors and a promising blessing given by the president of the Tokyo South Mission. Plans were made for physical therapy, for my mom and brother to stay with my Dad in Japan until he could travel home, and for my sister and I to go see him as soon as we could arrange passport renewals. But the next night my father had another stroke and passed away.

I remember how crushed I was to find out, and how completely surreal it was. I remember having to tell my sister and her throwing her pager across the room in anger and despair (again I’m telling my age here). But even more I remember that night as I knelt on my bed for what must have been an hour or two or more. I have never been good about kneeling and having long, formal prayer conversations; I am forgetful and so I tend to say a lot of little prayers throughout the day, right when I am thinking of whatever it is that I need to ask for or thank my Father for. But that night I felt I absolutely had to have it out with Heavenly Father, however long it took. I had to know if my Dad really wasn’t gone forever. I had to know if I would see him again, and if the course I was setting for the rest of my life was the right one. I had to keep reaching until I received that consolation because otherwise I didn’t know how I could face the next day and all the ensuing ones. And eventually that night I did know. My heart was bound up in peace, and I knew it would be okay, even if I knew nothing else. And little by little, from that moment, my broken heart was mended, and while the pain of losing my Dad will never be completely gone, I was able to feel whole because of that peace and those assurances. I know that the Savior can hold us and heal our hearts when mortality brings its inevitable heartbreaks, because He suffered all these and more so that He would know how to help us.

Fast forward to my other experience, which started just over 11½  years ago and will continue the next 18 years and probably the rest of my life. That experience, or combination of experiences, is motherhood. And while motherhood has been beautiful and soul-enriching experience that has brought me so much love and joy, and of course my six boys,  it has also been the most heart-breaking experience I have had. Losing my dad was something external that happened, and my heart broke from sadness—the kind of heartbreak we usually talk about in the world, where we lose something and we grieve the loss. But it is possibly even more heartbreaking to me to daily come up against my own weakness and to fail my boys on a regular basis. Every time I lose my patience or my temper and wound their little hearts, mine breaks. I find myself constantly forgetting that, and least until they are 8, they are the perfect ones and I am here to teach and coach them and learn with them, not to control or force them to obey me and walk the path I would choose for them. As a result I spend many nights asking forgiveness for the same things and wondering if I will ever feel like I’m doing it right or if I’ll always be broken.

This is where that second type of scripture I mentioned has brought me hope. Perhaps I am broken-hearted because of my failings, but that broken heart means that the Savior can enter. In fact, He requires it of us, because none of us is perfect, and that sorrow, if yielded up to God, brings us to Him. All of us are broken—every one of us on this earth—and we can choose to build a wall of shame or of pride to hide our brokenness, or we can be vulnerable and offer up our heart so that His light can penetrate. Being vulnerable is against the nature of the natural man, and takes humility and spiritual work to achieve. It requires that we constantly keep our focus on removing the beams from our own eyes, so to speak.

In October 2015 General Conference, Sister Neill Marriot of the Young Women’s General Presidency put it this way:

True worship begins when our hearts are right before the Father and the Son. What is our heart condition today? Paradoxically, in order to have a healed and faithful heart, we must first allow it to break before the Lord. “Ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit,” the lord declares. The result of sacrificing our heart, or our will, to the Lord is that we receive the spiritual guidance we need. 

With a growing understanding of the Lord’s grace and mercy, we will find that our self-willed hearts begin to crack and break in gratitude. Then we reach for Him, yearning to yoke ourselves to the Only Begotten Son of God. In our broken-hearted reaching and yoking, we receive new hope and fresh guidance through the Holy Ghost.

In short, the only way the Lord can heal my broken heart is if I offer it up to Him, trusting that He will make it whole this time and every other time, day after day, until at some point in an eternity I can’t now see my heart will be one with His. I don’t have to do the work of healing on my own, but I do need to do the work of opening my heart to Him and submitting to His will. That may mean that I follow a prompting to change a behavior or to offer an apology. It may also require me to consider a medical or psychological intervention, or to ask for and accept help. If my heart is truly broken, I’ll be willing to do whatever it takes to facilitate the healing I’m asking for. 

In October 2013 General Conference, Elder Randy D. Funk shared this:

The Lord instructs His servants to be humble because the process of being made whole spiritually begins with a broken heart. Think of the good that comes from broken things: Soil is broken to plant wheat. Wheat is broken to make bread. Bread is broken to become the emblems of the sacrament. When one who is repentant partakes of the sacrament with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, he or she becomes whole. As we repent and become whole through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we have much more to offer the Savior as we serve Him. “Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him.”

We can safely offer our whole souls and hearts to Him because He knows how to succor us. Like that sacrament bread, He was broken for us. We can’t imagine how broken He felt in those moments, but it was enough that He cried out for the pain to be taken away if possible, and later to question why His Father had left Him. He understands when we likewise feel alone with our heavy burdens and broken hearts, but because of His gift we don’t have to carry our burdens alone. 

Elder Funk continues:

If you are burdened by sin and need to repent, please do so immediately. When the Savior healed those who were afflicted, He often invited them to rise up. The scriptures record that they did so straightway, or immediately. To be healed of your spiritual afflictions, please accept His invitation to rise up. Without delay, talk to your bishop,...and begin the process of repentance now.

The healing power of the Atonement will bring peace to your soul and enable you to feel the Holy Spirit. The Savior’s sacrifice is beyond measure, but our sins, though numerous and serious, may be counted and confessed, forsaken and forgiven. “And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!”

I know that the Lord has forgiven me and healed even my self-inflicted wounds, and I trust that He will also cover the wounds I have inflicted on others because of my failings. I still get discouraged regularly, and still wonder if I’ll ever close the gap between what I am and what I know I should be. When I spend time focused on that gap, as I tend to do, I get depressed and exhausted. But when I shift my focus to the Savior and bare my heart to Him, He fills that gap and forgives me time after time. And if I am broken, He has asked me to be.

If you find yourself right now broken-hearted and lacking hope, please let these words sink into your heart.

President Benson:

The Lord is pleased with every effort, even the tiny, daily ones in which we strive to be more like Him. Though we may see that we have far to go on the road to perfection, we must not give up hope.

Elder Anderson, Wounded, October 2018:

Never give up—however deep the wounds of your soul, whatever their source, wherever or whenever they happen, and however short or long they persist, you are not meant to perish spiritually. You are meant to survive spiritually and blossom in your faith and trust in God.

God did not create our spirits to be independent of Him. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through the incalculable gift of His Atonement, not only saves us from death and offers us, through repentance, forgiveness for our sins, but He also stands ready to save us from the sorrows and pains of our wounded souls.

The Good Samaritan

The Savior is our Good Samaritan, sent “to heal the brokenhearted.” He comes to us when others pass us by. With compassion, He places His healing balm on our wounds and binds them up. He carries us. He cares for us. He bids us, “Come unto me … and I shall heal [you].”

“And [Jesus] shall … [suffer] pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; … that … he [might] take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people … [taking upon Himself our] infirmities, [being] filled with mercy.”

If you find that you aren’t brokenhearted, I’d invite you to follow Sister Marriott’s counsel that I shared earlier, and reflect on the incomprehensible grace and mercy of Jesus Christ and allow that to break your heart. Ask, “what lack I yet?” and be willing to hear the response. It’s something I need to do more often, and I avoid it too often because it’s hard to face more of my own failings. But failing in mortality doesn’t make us failures. Failing in mortality, to one degree or another, is why we are here, because failing shows us where we can learn and where we can rely on the Savior. It’s what opens the opportunity for us to repent and to come to know Him in the process. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Psalm 34:18)

I testify that He suffered all things and died for us, and that He lives again. I don’t know everything, but I do know that He can bind up our broken hearts and give us His peace.

The Ongoing Restoration

I was scheduled to give a talk on March 15. Usually my talk preparation drags out, and I revise and revise until right up until I give it. But this time I pounded out a talk early in the week, read it through, and then couldn't think of anything else and set it aside. Of course that was the first week that our regular church gatherings were cancelled, so this talk wasn't meant to be given. But I am sure I was meant to study and write it. So I'll post it here like I usually do with the talks I write.

The Ongoing Restoration

When he was getting ready to plan speakers for this month, John decided to go through the old programs and lists of who has spoken in the last year or so to make sure he didn’t ask people who had just recently spoken. He came downstairs after compiling his spreadsheet and asked, “You know who I noticed hasn’t spoken in quite a while?”

You can guess the answer, and here I am, packing in all of my Sacrament Meeting participation before I have this baby next month and become a hermit for a while. (This is funny in retrospect; we all became hermits a lot sooner than I had anticipated.)

Today I’m going to talk about the ongoing nature of the restoration and what it means for us to live now, in the dispensation of the fullness of times. I’m grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to reflect on it this month as we are preparing for General Conference and the bicentennial of the First Vision.

Elder John A. Widtsoe of the Quorum of the Twelve told of a time when he was with a group of stake officers and someone asked him how long it had been since the Church had received a revelation. Elder Widtsoe rubbed his chin thoughtfully and replied, “Oh, probably since last Thursday.”

In his talk, “Are you Sleeping Through the Restoration?” Elder Uchtdorf said, “Sometimes we think of the Restoration of the gospel as something that is complete, already behind us—Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, he received priesthood keys, the Church was organized. In reality, the Restoration is an ongoing process; we are living in it right now. It includes “all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal,” and the “many great and important things” that “He will yet reveal.” Brethren, the exciting developments of today are part of that long-foretold period of preparation that will culminate in the glorious Second Coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

A huge part of what makes us different as a church is our belief that revelation is ongoing; that “[God] will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” I love this doctrine, and I love that we have a living prophet on the earth today to guide us. But there has always been a little question or tension in my mind, which I have summed up this way: How is it that we say that the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the Gospel, or that the Prophet Joseph Smith restored the fullness of the Gospel, if there are still great and important things yet to be revealed?

When I think logically about this, two answers come to mind:

1. There must be a difference between what we call “having a fullness” and “having everything.”
2. Having a fullness doesn’t mean that we understand and apply it fully.

I think both of these apply to us in these last days; we are seeking to understand the fulness we have been given and to increase to perfection through Jesus Christ.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained what it means to live in the dispensation of the fulness of times:

“Whenever the Lord reveals the plan of salvation anew so that men do not have to rely solely upon prior dispensings from heaven of the same glories and wonders, it is called a dispensation of the gospel. This may or may not involve a restoration of keys and powers and priesthoods. 

…

“We live in the dispensation of the fulness of times. That is to say, we live in the dispensation of the fulness of dispensations. We have received all of the ‘keys, powers, and glories,’ possessed by them of old. Angelic ministrants have come from these Biblical dispensations which had distinctive keys and powers—‘all declaring their dispensation, their rights, their keys, their honors, their majesty and glory, and the power of their priesthood.

“In the dispensation of the fulness of times,’ as Paul promised, the Lord will ‘gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth.’ All of the rivers of the past have or will flow into the ocean of the present; already all of the keys and powers have fallen to our lot; in due course all of the doctrines and truths will be manifest to us.”

My translation of all of this is this: we have all of the Priesthood keys and powers, all of the principles and ordinances of the Gospel necessary for our salvation and exaltation, and because of that, we have the ability to receive every doctrine and truth as we are prepared to do so individually and as a church.

President Spencer W. Kimball said, “Of all things, that for which we should be most grateful today is that the heavens are indeed open and that the restored church of Jesus Christ is founded upon the rock of revelation. Continuous revelation is indeed the very lifeblood of the gospel of the living Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We are all a covenant part of this dispensation and of this process of ongoing revelation and restoration. It will not be completed “until we come to the fullness of the body of Christ,” and it requires something of all of us. President Kimball continued:

“it is the sad truth that if prophets and people are unreachable, the Lord generally does nothing for them. Having given them free agency, their Heavenly Father calls, persuades, and directs aright his children, but waits for their upreaching hands, their solemn prayers, their sincere, dedicated approach to him. If they are heedless, they are left floundering in midnight’s darkness when they could have the noonday sun.”

I think if any one of us examines our own hearts, our own understanding, and our own commitment to the Gospel, we will find places where we are lacking the investment of time or study or obedience that would be required to really understand and apply the principles of the Gospel in our lives. These things come, as Nephi put it, “line up one line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.” It is the work of a lifetime and then some to grow and be converted unto the measure of the fullness of Christ. The more we learn and obey, the more the Lord can add to our understanding.

The same is true for us collectively as a Church. Sometimes we expect perfection out of the church organization and leadership, and become upset when teachings or policies change over time, but we forget that the Church is no more than the sum of a whole lot of imperfect people striving to become perfect through Christ and trying to follow Him. The only perfect thing about it is the person leading it—Jesus Christ—and the authority that He has delegated. The process of growth and revelation that this authority enables works just as it does for each of us as individuals: we are taught line upon line as we are ready to receive, and our understanding as a church will grow and be perfected over time. This means that we should not only accept when the prophet asks us to stretch or grow or even change our minds, we should expect him to do so.

It also means that as we look back on the great unfolding of this dispensation so far, we shouldn’t be surprised to see that there were imperfections and blind spots among our predecessors, even among the greatest of them, any more than we should be surprised to find them in ourselves. They, like us, were learning line upon line, and could only be taught as much as they were prepared to ask. In response to their questions about how the Church should be established, many really hard things were required of them, and I am constantly inspired by the bravery and faith with which they responded. But I know that as great as they were, they didn’t respond perfectly. They didn’t understand perfectly. No one from Joseph Smith until now has attained perfection or managed to live the fullness of the Gospel without taint from the philosophies of their time, their own weaknesses, and their own intentional or unintentional biases. And I feel to say, thank goodness. Thank goodness that kind of perfection isn’t expected of me and of you in this life, and thank goodness that the Lord is able to bring about His work in spite of what poor agents we can be on His errands. As Elder Holland famously said, Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we.

Elder Holland also said:

Brothers and sisters, this is a divine work in process, with the manifestations and blessings of it abounding in every direction, so please don’t hyperventilate if from time to time issues arise that need to be examined, understood, and resolved. They do and they will. In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith.

…

And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work. As one gifted writer has suggested, when the infinite fulness is poured forth, it is not the oil’s fault if there is some loss because finite vessels can’t quite contain it all. Those finite vessels include you and me, so be patient and kind and forgiving.

I love the way that Clayton Christensen described the process of modern revelation in his book The Power of Everyday Missinoaries:

Revelation is a lot like a detective movie. The protagonist (the prophet) starts out with limited understanding of a complicated problem. As he asks question after question, the truth becomes clearer, but not without dead ends and wrong hypotheses based on limited information along the way. 

These movies end with the message on the screen, To be continued . . . (as in, “. . . we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God,” stated in our ninth Article of Faith). There are many of these ‘movies’ in the process of revelation. The ‘stars’ of these other movies include Moses, Peter, Thomas, Joseph Smith, and others—prophets whose understanding of God came from iterating processes of questions, answers, and teaching; questions, answers, and teaching.

Perspective matters a lot. From God’s perspective, the doctrine of Christ is complete and unchangeable. Some current or former members of our church pray that our prophets will change our doctrines or policies to conform to emerging societal norms. God does not invent the rules and doctrines on the fly to keep pace with society, however. From God’s perspective, doctrine is unchangeable. But from our perspective, we must always expect that the doctrine that we understand will always evolve and improve. We should expect that the Prophet might change things, on occasion. But we must also believe that we, as members, might be wrong too—and we might need to be willing to change our position on a policy or belief as we learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We simply must pray that we might ask the right questions, questions that will lead to our knowing more of what God knows.

I suppose what I have taken from all of this is summed up in that last sentence. I hope that we will seek and pray to ask the right questions. To ask the questions that will lead us to repent. To ask the questions that will stretch us and lead us to grow. To ask the questions that will help us to increase in understanding line upon line, precept upon precept, and to be patient in that process. I know that Christ lives and that we are part of His latter-day work. I know that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet of God, to restore the Gospel fulness and to launch this ongoing dispensation of light and knowledge that we get to be a part of. That doesn’t mean that we or our leaders are necessarily more perfect than anyone else, but it does mean that we have covenanted to be on His side. As my primary class discussed a few weeks back, we are free agents, but through covenant we have committed to be on the Lord’s team, to act on His behalf, and to keep trying when we fall short. As we do so I know that He is anxious to give us knowledge and blessings according as we are prepared to receive them.

President Nelson has recently taught: “These are exciting days. The Lord is hastening His work right before our eyes. It is thrilling. It is rigorous. More is required from each of us—more than ever before. And more is being given. … My dear brothers and sisters, the ‘veil o’er the earth is continuing to burst, and one of the deep desires of my heart is for you to receive all that the Lord is ready to reveal to you.”

That this desire sinks deep into my heart and yours is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Shame, Guilt, and Gospel

I went through a Brene Brown kick a while back where I listened to several of her audiobooks in a row. (I tend to do that with different authors.) She has so much good insight into the destructive power of shame in our lives and the gifts of vulnerability and refusing to hide when shame tells us to.

A key distinction that she and others in the psychotherapy world make is the difference between shame and guilt. Shame tells us that we are inherently flawed, and unworthy, and that we should shrink, hide, or disappear. It makes our sins and mistakes mean that we are not enough. Guilt, on the other hand, is a signal that our actions are out of alignment with who we are and our values, and that something needs to change. Guilt, essentially, leads to self-knowledge that we can use to repent. I would posit that guilt can be the godly sorrow mentioned in the scriptures, but shame cannot.

As I was reading the account of Lehi's vision this time around, I got stuck on the phrase, "And after they had partaken of the fruit of the tree they did cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed." (1 Nephi 8:25) It seems crazy that just after partaking of this most joyful fruit, the people could be shamed by the bullies in the great and spacious building. "And after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost." (v. 28) It made me wonder in what ways shame might be hindering my progress in the Gospel.

One way that I know I have dropped the fruit, so to speak, is in my failure to share the Gospel with others. Last week I read the book The Power of Everyday Missionaries by Clay Christiansen, and it really laid out how the world convinces most of us in the Church that we can't and shouldn't share the Gospel all the time. And even knowing this, I am not sure I can open my mouth and say what I know I should. It seems so risky for some reason even though the only thing I have to lose is possibly the good opinion of others. That comes from shame--feeling like I need to hide who I am or reveal the Gospel only to those I know are interested. I plan to really pray and work on this because I realized just how much I am missing by not obeying that commandment and partaking of that fruit.

I looked for other references to shame in the Book of Mormon, and noticed this pattern: shame teaches us to hide, and the Lord says that the wicked will be ashamed in the presence of God. The righteous are instructed to put shame off and refuse to hide.

• Jacob 2:6, 6:9; Alma 12:15 - Wickedness will lead to feeling shame in the presence of God. The wicked will wish they could hide from Him because of their knowledge of their sins.
• 2 Nephi 7:5/Isaiah 50:6 - "I hid not my face from shame and spitting." The Lord was temped with shame just as we are, but he refused to hide. We follow Him when we stay in the light and refuse to hide, whether it be hiding what we know and avoiding the world's scorn or hiding our own sins from the Lord and from the world.
• 2 Nephi 9:18 - Saints who "despise the shame of [the world] shall inherit the Kingdom.
• Jacob 1:8 - men should bear the shame of the world, suffering Christ's cross. In this case, I don't think bear means to internalize it or accept it; I think it means not to hide from it or to turn inward because of it. To shake it off and keep living the Gospel out loud.
• 3 Nephi 22:4 - we shouldn't be confounded, "for thou shalt not be put to shame, shalt forget the shame of thy youth."

My conclusion was this: If we apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ to our lives, we should shed shame. The world will try to shame us, but discipleship requires us to disregard that shame. It requires us to be vulnerable in both our public and private life, and willing to lay bare our true selves. That means refusing to hide who we are and refusing to hide from our sins.

Satan will try to convince us when we fail that we are inherently incapable of change and of success, so we shouldn't try; we can't change so the only way forward is to shrink of God's presence, to hide our sins and weaknesses or to justify them in comparison and judgment of others around us. At its core this concept is really very typical of Lucifer, who has always attacked the agency of man. If we are inherently incapable of obedience, then we do not have the agency to choose it. This is not of God, and is a lie. Because of Christ's Atonement, we can choose to change and be made whole in Him, regardless of how many times we fail, as long as we are willing to admit our sins, turn to Him, and just keep trying.

So I'll keep trying to put off shame and to put on the armor of God--to choose to lay bare my sins before Him daily and to trust that He can make me more than I am. I'll choose to live and speak the Gospel more boldly and to be the same person at home, work, and play that I am in church. And when I fall short, that will be okay too.

"One Thing Needful" by Patricia Holland

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1987/10/one-thing-needful-becoming-women-of-greater-faith-in-christ?lang=eng

Just so, so on point.

Tolstoy on the True Life

From The Gospel in Brief

We must understand the true life, what it is. The true life is brought to light always in the lost being brought back to where they belong; in the awakening of those who slept. People who have the true life, who are restored to the source of their being, cannot, like worldly men, take account of others as better or worse; but, being sharers of the Father's life, they can take delight only in the return of the lost to their Father. If a son, who has gone astray and left his father, should repent, and return, how then could the other sons of the same father grudge at the father's joy, or themselves not rejoice at the brother's return?

...

The true life of the fulfilment of the Father's will is not in the life of the past, or of the future, but it is the life of now, the life which all must live at this instant of time. Therefore one must never relax the true life in them. Men are set to watch over life, not of the past or the future, but the life now being lived; and in that, to fulfil the will of the Father of all men. If they let this life escape them, by not fulfilling the Father's will, then they will not receive it back again; just as a watchman, set upon a night-long watch, does not perform his duty if he fall asleep even for a moment; for in this moment a thief may come. Therefore a man must concentrate his strength in the present hour, for in this hour only can he fulfil the Father's will. And that will is life and blessing for all men. Only those live who are doing good. Good done to men, now in this hour, is life, life which unites us with the common Father.

Memorizing.

I want to work on memorizing again. There is power in writing the word of the Lord in our brains, which helps the Spirit write it in our hearts. Also, the combination of my horrible mommy brain with starting to do estate planning make me worried about Alzheimer's! I am going to shoot for one scripture or quote a week (let's ignore the fact that I am already behind). To start, this one from Ezra Taft Benson stood out:

The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.

The great commandment of life is to love the Lord.

-Ezra Taft Benson, April 1988

I am also going to try to at least familiarize myself with each quote in Spanish and Japanese, so here are those, too.

El gran labor de la vida es averiguar cuál es la voluntad del Señor y luego obedecerla.

El gran mandamiento de la vida es amar al Señor.

人生における大きなる務めは主の御心を知り、それを行うことです。

人生における大きなる戒めは主を愛することです。

The Typical Relief Society Sister: Who You Really Are

I love Sister Elaine Jack's perspective on comparisons and talents. So glad I came across this talk!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1990/10/these-things-are-manifested-unto-us-plainly?lang=eng&query=support+husband

No greater heroine lives in today’s world than the woman who is quietly doing her part. Generally unsung, you live everywhere . . . You show your love for the Lord daily as you support husbands, nurture children, care for parents, benefit neighbors, serve in your schools, sit on community councils, and do much of the work of this world in and out of the home. No one is more impressive than you.

I promised to introduce you to the typical Relief Society sister.

The good news is that she actually does exist.

The better news is that she is wonderful.

The best news is that she’s you! And this is who you really are!

On the flip side, comparison can also lead us to be judgmental to others, not just to ourselves. Another more recent quote:

The adversary would have us be critical or judgmental of one another. He wants us to concentrate on our differences and compare ourselves to one another. . . .

[T]here is nothing that is worth us losing our compassion and sisterhood over. We just need to relax and rejoice in our divine differences. We need to realize that we all desire to serve in the kingdom, using our unique talents and gifts in our own ways. Then we can enjoy our sisterhood and our associations and begin to serve. . . .

If there are barriers, it is because we ourselves have created them. We must stop concentrating on our differences and look for what we have in common; then we can begin to realize our greatest potential and achieve the greatest good in this world.

-Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson, April 2014

As we stop comparing not only will we see who we really are, we will also who our sisters really are, and will be filled with charity--the watchword of our organization--in a greater measure.

Desires and Treasures

From Elder Teh of the Seventy:

I bear testimony that our priorities, tendencies, inclinations, desires, appetites, and passions will have a direct bearing on our next estate. Let us always remember the words of the Savior: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

When I think of the Lord's statement that I will be judged on my desires, I often tend to link that with my desires for what I hope to someday be, or what deep down I know is best. But I don't always think of my everyday desires and tendencies--all those times I pay attention to lesser things or desire to do easy things instead of hard ones. Those are counted too, and are just as much a part of me as the former desires. Clearly I need to work harder to make my daily choices such that the gap between the two dwindles.

Educating Our Desires

Last month our bishop sent out an email inviting the ward members to study one of the talks from April General Conference each day until the October sessions began, as we had as many days left as talks at that point. I took up the challenge, but find as I go I am getting ahead, because once I actually sit down and read or listen, I just want to soak up more! I can see how I am being prepared to receive more in the coming weeks, and I am thankful for that inspired counsel. Today I studied President Ridd's talk entitled, "The Choice Generation," and I loved this quote from Elder Maxwell that he shared:

What we insistently desire, over time, is eventually what we will become and what we will receive in eternity...

Only by educating and training our desires can they become allies instead of our enemies!

-Neal A. Maxwell, "According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts," October 1996 General Conference.

I then had to read that Maxwell talk because he is my favorite (well, I don't really have favorites I suppose, but I love him!), and it is one for the books.

I love the idea of educating our desires. I feel like I have worked on doing this with my choices in food and how my tastes have changed. A comment from Reed Nibley that I heard during a documentary on his life and career always sticks with me--that when he found he couldn't continue living on the kind of diet he had been accustomed to, he had to "refine his tastes" in order to enjoy healthy foods.

Looking back at my young adult life (now officially over according to the Church Handbook, since I am 31), I can see how experiences, changes, and acts of repentance have educated and refined my desires so that I am not as drawn to the damaging substances or empty calories of life. I more naturally crave and desire the deep and fulfilling spiritual nourishment that comes from study, communion, and obedience. And yet still I know that my desires need yet to be educated and refined, and so many things in my daily diet of choices could be done away with in favor of more healthy options. I hope that being more conscious about that process will enable me to more effectively move forward, to feel comfortable that the desires of my heart are in tune with the desires of my Father for me.

Hope, Repentance, and Mighty Change

The sixth and final point I wish to make about the process of repentance is that we must be careful, as we seek to become more and more godlike, that we do not become discouraged and lose hope. Becoming Christlike is a lifetime pursuit and very often involves growth and change that is slow, almost imperceptible. The scriptures record remarkable accounts of men whose lives changed dramatically, in an instant, as it were: Alma the Younger, Paul on the road to Damascus, Enos praying far into the night, King Lamoni. Such astonishing examples of the power to change even those steeped in sin give confidence that the Atonement can reach even those deepest in despair.

But we must be cautious as we discuss these remarkable examples. Though they are real and powerful, they are the exception more than the rule. For every Paul, for every Enos, and for every King Lamoni, there are hundreds and thousands of people who find the process of repentance much more subtle, much more imperceptible. Day by day they move closer to the Lord, little realizing they are building a godlike life. They live quiet lives of goodness, service, and commitment. They are like the Lamanites, who the Lord said “were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not.” (3 Ne. 9:20; italics added.)

We must not lose hope. Hope is an anchor to the souls of men. Satan would have us cast away that anchor. In this way he can bring discouragement and surrender. But we must not lose hope. The Lord is pleased with every effort, even the tiny, daily ones in which we strive to be more like Him. Though we may see that we have far to go on the road to perfection, we must not give up hope.

Ezra Taft Benson, "A Mighty Change of Heart," Ensign, Oct. 1989. Emphasis added.

Brigham Young on Imperfect Scriptures

...I do not even believe that there is a single revelation, among the many God has given to the Church, that is perfect in its fulness. The revelations of God contain correct doctrine and principle, so far as they go; but it is impossible for the poor, weak, low, groveling, sinful inhabitants of the earth to receive a revelation from the Almighty in all its perfections. He has to speak to us in a manner to meet the extent of our capacities. . . .

If an angel should come into this congregation, or visit any individual of it, and use the language he uses in heaven, what would we be benefited? Not any, because we could not understand a word he said. When angels come to visit mortals, they have to condescend to and assume, more or less, the condition of mortals, they have to descend to our capacities in order to communicate with us. I make these remarks to show you that the kingdom of heaven is not yet complete upon the earth. Why? Because the people are not  prepared to receive it in its completeness, for they are not complete or perfect themselves.

The laws that the Lord has given are not fully perfect, because the people could not receive them in their perfect fulness; but they can receive a little here and a little there, a little today and a little tomorrow, a little more next week, and a little more in advance of that next year, if they make a wise improvement upon every little they receive; if they do not, they are left in the shade, and the light which the Lord reveals will appear darkness to them, and the kingdom of heaven will travel on and leave them groping. Hence, if we wish to act upon the fulness of the knowledge that the Lord designs to reveal, little by little, to the inhabitants of the earth, we must improve upon every little as it is revealed.

-Journal of Discourses, 2:314