"Do we frequently reject the Lord's love that He pours out upon us in much more abundance than we are willing to receive? Do we think we have to be perfect in order to deserve His love? When we allow ourselves to feel 'encircled about eternally in the arms of his love' (2 Nephi 1:15), we feel safe, and we realize that we don't need to be immediately perfect. We must acknowledge that perfection is a process. This is a gospel of eternal progress, and we must remember to appreciate the journey."
(Bonnie D. Parkin,"Eternally Encircled in His Love," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 108)
I remember when I was younger learning the scripture Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." I remember when I learned that scripture feeling overwhelmed at the huge expectations that I had to live up to. There were no exceptions, it didn't say, "except for Misty" just "Be ye therefore perfect." I think there are thousands of LDS women that struggle with being perfect and even women who aren't LDS. Am I the perfect mom, wife, friend, sister, etc? Do I have a perfect body? Am I living my life perfectly? Is my house perfectly clean? Because you know, "cleanliness is next to Godliness" (that is my dad's and husband's favorite quote - more on that another day). When you look at things that way it seems like a mountain that we can never climb. I am learning that we don't have to be perfect in everything all at once. We just need to work on these things one thing at a time "line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little" (Isaiah 28:10). It is okay if we aren't perfect at FHE or saying our prayers, or church attendance, or temple attendance, or scripture study, or the one-billion other things that we need to be doing as long as we are trying and trying to progress and get better day by day. It is also okay if we show others that we aren't perfect too. My favorite part of Sister Parkin's quote is: "we must acknowledge that perfection is a process. This is a gospel of eternal progress, and we must remember to appreciate the journey." This quote made me want to read more and find her talk online, so if you would like to read it too, here it is.
https://lds.org/general-conference/2006/10/eternally-encircled-in-his-love?lang=eng&cid=email-shared
I remember when I was younger learning the scripture Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." I remember when I learned that scripture feeling overwhelmed at the huge expectations that I had to live up to. There were no exceptions, it didn't say, "except for Misty" just "Be ye therefore perfect." I think there are thousands of LDS women that struggle with being perfect and even women who aren't LDS. Am I the perfect mom, wife, friend, sister, etc? Do I have a perfect body? Am I living my life perfectly? Is my house perfectly clean? Because you know, "cleanliness is next to Godliness" (that is my dad's and husband's favorite quote - more on that another day). When you look at things that way it seems like a mountain that we can never climb. I am learning that we don't have to be perfect in everything all at once. We just need to work on these things one thing at a time "line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little" (Isaiah 28:10). It is okay if we aren't perfect at FHE or saying our prayers, or church attendance, or temple attendance, or scripture study, or the one-billion other things that we need to be doing as long as we are trying and trying to progress and get better day by day. It is also okay if we show others that we aren't perfect too. My favorite part of Sister Parkin's quote is: "we must acknowledge that perfection is a process. This is a gospel of eternal progress, and we must remember to appreciate the journey." This quote made me want to read more and find her talk online, so if you would like to read it too, here it is.
https://lds.org/general-conference/2006/10/eternally-encircled-in-his-love?lang=eng&cid=email-shared
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