Great video if you are feeling overwhelmed about becoming perfect from a woman who has been there and found her way out.
As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I know of no better way to reduce a group of church women into a miserable puddle of guilt, than to mention becoming perfect. Immediately, women begin bemoaning their "failures": their home isn't neat every moment, their children are not high achievers, their meals sometimes are not very nutritious, their hair has a mind of its own, their clothes aren't stylish, their weight is too much, their yard has weeds, they forget things, and worst of all, they sometimes get tired and grouchy.
I know that any guy who may be reading this is probably laughing by now. Why is it that men don't seem to come unglued about becoming "perfect" like women do? They just accept things as they are and keep going. I am jealous. Life would be so simple if I could live this way, but I am a woman, and it seems to be a part of our burden to fight this endless battle with perfection -- or is it?
Why is it that women equate perfection with performing details in some precise way? As women are we really required to do this? Is this really an expectation of a good, faithful woman? No, instead, we are counseled to "not run faster than you have strength"; then why do we keep running until we become exhausted?
It could be because we view becoming perfect, as the Pharisees of old, as something we have to do ourselves. We put it on our endless list of things we "should" do, and then become stressed and discouraged when we cannot achieve it.
Heavenly Father has explained:
32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and 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; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. Moroni 10
I was surprised when I looked up "perfected" in the footnotes and found that it led me to verses on becoming spiritually reborn. It also talked about being complete, finished, and fully developed. I'm certainly not ready to be "finished", and I'm definitely only "half baked".
As I've grown older, I've learned that God cares little for the "outer vessel", or all the small details in our life. He care about bigger things. He wants us to become as He is. He wants us to become spiritually reborn, to have a heart full of love, and "have no more desire to do evil". Of course, this change of our nature is not something we can do by ourselves. It is not something we can check off our list; it is a process of becoming a better person. We just need to choose the good and keep God's commandments the best we can; then, through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ, we will slowly have that change of heart which helps us become more like our Heavenly Father.
I find it comforting to know that all I need to do is choose the good, try my best, and have faith in God's power to make more of me than I can by myself. I don't have to do every little thing in a certain way. In fact, focusing on performing details precisely, instead of loving others only leads to exhaustion and might even keep us from doing the more important things. All I need to do is follow the Spirit, listening to and acting on those quiet promptings to help others, and then, slowly, my heart will become a changed, "perfect", heart.
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