Turning Missteps Into Stepping Stones

In the Saturday Morning session in this last General Conference, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said some encouraging words about how the Atonement can change our views about the mistakes we make.

Because of Jesus Christ, our failures do not have to define us. They can refine us.

Like a musician rehearsing scales, we can see our missteps, flaws, and sins as opportunities for greater self-awareness, deeper and more honest love for others, and refinement through repentance.

If we repent, mistakes do not disqualify us. They are part of our progress.

We are all infants compared to the beings of glory and grandeur we are designed to become. No mortal being advances from crawling to walking to running without frequent stumbles, bumps, and bruises. That is how we learn.

I find this all very encouraging. Like any human, I make a lot of mistakes, and I tend to beat myself up about them to an unhealthy degree. Just the other day, I made mistake after mistake, and I felt less than worthless. But that's not the way God wants anyone to feel. We all have infinite worth, despite our failings. The mistakes we make do not have to define us or hold us back. Instead, we can treat them as opportunities to learn. Our mistakes can teach us compassion for our fellow beings, and as we strive to learn how we made those mistakes and how we might avoid them, they can teach us wisdom, too. If we respond appropriately to them, our mistakes can help us rather than hinder us.

I am grateful for the Atonement and for the knowledge that my mistakes don't need to hold me back. I'm grateful that, thanks to the Atonement, my mistakes can help me learn and grow and even become more Christlike. Naturally, I'll still try to avoid making mistakes, but I'll also try to stop beating myself up about them when I make them. My mistakes don't have to disqualify me from reaching the Celestial Kingdom. Without repentance, any sin would be a deal-breaker, but with repentance, no sin has to be. We can repent, receive forgiveness, learn from our mistakes, and grow to be more like Jesus Christ. Our experiences with sin can be just that: experiences, perhaps even the same kinds of experiences we came to Earth to gain.

Our mistakes don't automatically doom us all to hell. Instead, thanks to the Atonement, our missteps can become stepping stones toward heaven.