One of my biggest struggles in life is to accept that I'm not perfect. For a long, long time, I was held captive by thinking, "If I can't do everything just right, then I may as well not try to do anything right." I would get so down on myself when I did something that I knew was wrong that I would just continue my wrong ways, because in my mind, hope was already lost on me.
I heard this quote recently and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I repeat it to myself multiples times each day:
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
–Confucius
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4 comments:
This is something we all go through. I am trying to change this mind set also. We just need to remember that Heavenly Father loves us no matter what and when we do fall we need to pick ourselves up and try again.
"Heavenly Father loves us no matter what"
Simple but powerful. Thanks for the comment, d.
It seems to me that you need to remember that perfection isn't a destination in this world but a process by which we lay the path for us to become complete for the next. I feel if you put your best effort into something and do your best, even half a success is a success. So don't be so hard on yourself and don't give up. At least you are trying and that's something.
I don't ever recall hearing anyone at church actually say "we must reach perfection in this life or else we're lost" but that attitude sure seems to be common in LDS communities. My parents are a good example of different approaches: Mom fears death because she's afraid she won't have reached sufficient perfection by then, while Dad says "I am what I am and I've tried my best, if that's not good enough, then I'll go where I go and be happy there."
Personally I found life and faith and faithfulness much easier once I accepted that I wasn't perfect, I wasn't going to be perfect in this life, and that in the eternal sense I'd be okay as long as I kept trusting in the Savior and kept getting up whenever I fell.
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