Faults - Admit Them and Overcome Them

Over the last two days, I've been looking at President Deiter F. Uchtdorf's talk, "Lord, is it I?", trying to think of a good message to share from it. There are so many good ideas in the talk,  I had a hard time choosing which one to emphasize. But my experience last night taught me not only that I should try harder to keep up with my homework assignments but also that I'm not ashamed to admit my faults. At least, not some of them.

President Uchtdorf said:

Brethren, none of us likes to admit when we are drifting off the right course. Often we try to avoid looking deeply into our souls and confronting our weaknesses, limitations, and fears. Consequently, when we do examine our lives, we look through the filter of biases, excuses, and stories we tell ourselves in order to justify unworthy thoughts and actions. 

But being able to see ourselves clearly is essential to our spiritual growth and well-being. If our weaknesses and shortcomings remain obscured in the shadows, then the redeeming power of the Savior cannot heal them and make them strengths.

In short, in order to change for the better, we have to admit that we could stand to change, and we don't always feel like doing that. It is, as many spiritual problems are, a pride issue. I don't want to see myself as being weak, foolish, or incompetent. Yet, it's only by honestly admitting and evaluating our faults that we can begin to overcome them. I could have blamed the Pathway program for having too many assignments due too soon, or I could have blamed the website for having problems (which cleared up in time for me to get all my homework done, thankfully), but instead, I admitted my fault and resolved to learn from it and overcome it. I'm still a chronic procrastinator, and I still forget things far too easily, but admitting that I have those faults enables me to take steps to overcome them.

We all have faults, whether we want to admit them or not. We can all stand to improve in some areas. We each have to honestly evaluate our faults and work to overcome them. But while we do that, we shouldn't get discouraged. God knows that we're not perfect and that we're not going to become perfect any time soon. He is patient with us, and we should try to be patient with ourselves. That's not to say that we should get comfortable with being the way we are, but we shouldn't feel miserable for not being better than we are. We are where we are. We should learn from our past, make peace with our present, and move forward into the future. My favorite aspect of Eternal Progression is that we don't have to become perfect overnight. It'll take a lot more time than that, but I believe that God will give each of us all the time we need. We just need to keep moving forward. As long as we're moving forward, we don't need to worry about how far we still have to go.

And there's one more thing that I want to touch on. It's sometimes said that as long as we're making progress each day, we're okay, but what about the days when we don't make any progress? What about the days when we regress a little bit, or suffer a setback? I personally think that that's alright every once in a while. Some days are better than others. Setbacks happen. You don't need to beat yourself up over it if you don't make any progress on a particular day. What we need to do is try again, to learn from our mistakes and setbacks and keep trying to move forward. I think that as long as our ups and downs average out to making an upward trends, progress is being made. And even when we make mistakes and suffer setbacks, as long as we strive to learn from them, they can help us improve ourselves as well. They can teach us about ourselves and our faults so we can better understand them and overcome them.

Being imperfect and making mistakes aren't bad things. They are part of the human experience, and they give us opportunities to grow. The only time when being imperfect is a problem is when we decide that it's so little of a problem that we don't have to try to change. We do need to change. We all have faults to overcome, but we also have a Father who's willing to work with us and be patient with us as we strive to overcome them. I'm not perfect, and I don't have to be perfect yet. What I have to do is keep learning from my mistakes and keep making progress. And in order to do that, I need to acknowledge my faults so I can strive to understand and overcome them.