D&C Section Twenty-three

Given to five men concerning their desire to know what the Lord wanted of them, there is one phrase (among several) that I think is important. Four times, the Lord says, "Thou art under no condemnation." There is a divine standard given to us to be perfect and because of that, we get caught up in perfectionism. We need to remember that human performance is limited, but divine performance is unlimited. What we do will always be limited; what God can do is not, and understanding the difference between the two is key to our happiness, especially our happiness with ourselves. As someone said, the Lord doesn't require us to succeed, he requires us to try." The author T.S. Elliot once wrote, "For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business." Meaning, the rest is something we shouldn't be occupied with. We live in a mortal world brought about by the fall. But for some reason, we won't allow ourselves to accept the condition that we have fallen into. We can't be perfect, so why condemn ourselves for it? We will fall short, so why berate ourselves when it was fully known we would and that's why there is a Redeemer. The word grace means gift. His acceptance of us, with all our shortcomings, is a gift that if we will receive it, we will learn that we are loved for who we are right now, regardless of our failings. I always have, and undoubtedly always will, identify with these words in the hymn "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing."

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it in thy courts above.

For all my shortcomings, all my wanderings, the Lord still knows my heart and its intentions. If he loves me in spite of myself, why shouldn't I? If we can learn this lesson, then what others think of us has absolutely no significance. We will not be concerned with those who see our shortcomings and dutifully point them out to us. More importantly, since we are our own worst enemy, we will accept ourselves in the way the Lord does and know that through his gift of grace, we will all eventually be where we need to be, and be there when we should be. If he's willing to let the tree take the time it needs to bear its fruit, so should we.