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When the world grows quiet,
and the day is put to rest,
remember you've succeeded
if you've tried your very best.
-In Memory of Jonathan Glen Lewis
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Across the street from the Logan temple on the southeast corner sits a bench with a single plaque in front of it. The plaque talks of how we need to do our best. It's something that I have heard all my life: "do your best...", "give 100%", "give your all"... I have often struggled with trying to find a definition of what is my best. At times I have felt satisfied with what I have done, but even then... could I have done better? Hearing the phrase "Do your best!" is something that has grown to be very annoying to me. Is it really possible to do ones best? Can we really give 100%? Or, as some say, 110%?
As I sat there on the bench pondering, ideas began to flood my mind.
I was taken back 3 years ago to an internet cafe in a small town in Russia. I was serving as an LDS missionary and I was troubled by this very question. I wanted to know if I could do my best... if it was possible... and why everyone was telling me to do so. My father replied with some things that I still think about to this day. I still have the e-mail that I printed off tucked away in my mission journal:
"I think it is very important to distinguish between doing our best, and doing the best that could have been done. Most of the time we do what we feel should be done, and in a way that we feel should be done... and we are limited by our capabilities and our current state of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual being. When we look back many times we think, "I could have done that better" or "I should have done this or that". Those thoughts are only productive to the point that we learn, make note for next time, and move on without looking back and dwelling on it. Next time we do that thing, we will hopefully do it slightly different or better based on our experience; and we can always learn from the experience of others so that we don't have to stumble ourselves."
The thoughts kept coming as I sat there on that bench kitty corner to the temple. A scripture from the Book of Mormon came to mind:
"And because thou hast seen thy weakness
thou shalt be made strong, even unto the
sitting down in the place which I have
prepared in the mansions of my Father."
Heaven will not be filled with people who never made a mistake, but with people who recognized their weaknesses, and made the necessary changes to overcome them - including allowing Christ to come into your life - to let him change you:
..."And if men come unto me I will show unto
them their weakness. I give unto men weakness
that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient
for all men that humble themselves before me;
for if they humble themselves before me, and have
faith in me, then will I make weak things become
strong unto them."
I have noticed that as we try to do our best, we begin to realize our weaknesses... one by one. I found that it is the same way in a gospel sense: As we come unto Christ, we begin to realize our weaknesses one by one. I've often thought of life as a staircase: step by step, trial by trial, weakness by weakness, we move up the staircase. As we get higher and higher up the staircase, we may get to that one step - a single step - and we can not go further than that. We are too high, what if I fall? I can't do it, I don't have the strength. Whatever the reason, we find ourselves standing in front of that one step, and then we slowly begin to back down the staircase. We give up.
I testify that the strength to overcome, the strength to go the next step lies in Jesus Christ, His gospel, and His atonement. As we strive to do our best, he will bless us - because of Christ, we can do our best. The last thought that came to me as I sat on the bench, is that there is nothing greater than heaven - the temple is a symbol of that very thing. The temple - a gift from our Father in Heaven. As we strive to be worthy to enter the temple, and live the covenants that we have made therein, we are doing our best - because there is nothing greater than that - there is nothing higher, nothing more glorious, nothing greater than what our Father in Heaven has in store for us, and the temple is the great symbol of all of that.
The prophet Joseph Smith, in the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland temple, taught that as we go to the temple, we receive a fullness of the Holy Ghost (D&C 109:15). And, as we receive a fullness of the Holy Ghost, we are purified, changed, perfected, sanctified:
"Reception of the Holy Ghost is the cleansing agent as the atonement
purifies you... That is a fact you can act on with confidence. You
can invite the Holy Ghost's companionship into your life. And you
can know when he is there, and when he withdraws. And when he
is your companion, you can have the confidence that the Atonement
is working in your life."
Therefore, the decree of the Savior "Be ye therefore perfect..." begins to make a little more sense. (Matt. 5:48). This causes one to look at commandments in a different light. Commandments are not "if you do not do this, you are condemned", but rather, commandments are a loving plea from our Father in Heaven saying: "You can do it! You can become as I am!" Commandments are the beacons on our path back to our Father in Heaven. Commandments are the steps up the staircase back to Him. We must work at it - as we allow Christ to change us, we will be transformed little by little into someone who is more capable of keeping the commandments - someone who is more capable of relying on a Heavenly Father to bless and help you, until you get to the point where you will become as Christ is.
"The most important commandment is the one you're having the greatest difficulty living." -President Harold B. Lee
That commandment that you are having the' greatest difficulty living' right now at this moment is the next stair lying before you on the staircase back to our Father in Heaven. It is the step that is keeping us from all of the other steps after it. In this staircase, no stairs can be skipped. We thought we were doing just wonderful going up the staircase... until we came to this one step. We can get past this step... and the one that can help us do that is Jesus Christ. That is the reason that He came to this earth - to walk the staircase for us. He knows what we each need to climb the staircase - because He climbed it. I believe that he is the Son of God, and that by faith in Him, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and continuing devotion, we can become our best selves and return to live with God. He has promised each of us:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I
am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find
rest unto your souls." (Matt. 11:28-30)
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