Being Imperfect

My little seven-year-old son got very frustrated with himself last night for making a mistake. I suppose the nature of the mistake is not so important as is the anger he felt toward himself. But to make a point, I'll share what he'd done. He thought the event was worse, much worse, than I did.

Unbeknownst to me, he'd been playing around with my sewing machine, turning knobs and buttons and all kinds of gizmos. Later when I went to sew something, the needle broke down inside the machine due to his "scientific experiments" he'd been making. The result was a large piece of the needle submerged and well-stuck down inside a rather expensive sewing machine. :0)

In the realm of eternity, this was a rather small event. But I couldn't seem to help him see that. We talked about how when we make a mistake we need to make sure to fix it. But we don't need to writhe with all kinds of self-loathings. Soon enough, with the help of some tweezers, I got the needle out and everything was ready to sew.

I thought on this this morning as I was reading in D&C 49:8:

Wherefore, I will that all men shall repent, for all are under sin, except those which I have reserved unto myself, holy men that ye know not of.

The cross reference to this scripture took me to Galatians 3:22:

But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

And cross-referencing THAT I came to Mosiah 16:1-2 in the Book of Mormon:

And now it came to pass that after Abinadi had spoken these words he stretched forth his hand and said: The time shall come when all shall see the salvation of the Lord; when every nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall see eye to eye and shall confess before God that his judgments are just.

And then shall the wicked be cast out, and they shall have cause to howl, and weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth; and this because they would not hearken unto the voice of the Lord; therefore the Lord redeemeth them not (emphasis added).

This is what I tried to explain to my son who last night perfectly fit the howling description from this scripture. He is a little guy who cares very much about things and is very hard on himself when he falters. But the Lord knew when He sent us to earth we would make mistakes. All of us would make mistakes; only Jesus Christ is perfect and whole. I reminded my son that it is not so much whether or not we would make mistakes in our sojourn here on earth (it's obvious we do and will). What matters, I told him, is what we do after we've realized we have made a mistake.

In the scripture above, only those who refuse to hearken to the Lord are those that need fear, tremble, howl, or even gnash teeth - simply because they will be spending an eternity without Him. On the other hand, those who do desire to live Christ-like lives, do not need to howl if they are hearkening to the voice of the Lord daily and are following the plan He laid out. In so doing, we avoid SO many mistakes, but for those mistakes that still snag us, we have hope. We have the Savior Jesus Christ who came to save all those who would put their trust in Him and have Him be their Redeemer from the sin that so easily besets us, and even the little mistakes that distract us.

THIS is what I tried to explain to my distraught little son last night. It is not so much the mistake as it is what we do after we realize we made a mistake. If we turn to the Lord in our imperfections and seek to do all we can to better our choices, then all is well. For indeed, He died to save us all. His plan is perfect; His grace is mighty; He is powerful to save. Big mistake or small, He can redeem us all if we choose Him, hearken to His word, and strive to do better each time we fall.

My little boy is learning all this; in fact, just this morning he reminded me again of what he learned last night. Oh, isn't it wonderful to know of Christ and all He's done! It lifts the load of fear, discouragement,...and even howling. :0)