A Plan for Failure

On Sunday our Stake Patriarch gave a talk about how mature Christians have a plan for failure.  He quoted a biblical scholar with whom I am unfamiliar, but the words he shared have really inspired me.  To begin, he talked about how Christ began His ministry in Nazareth, His home town, and was rejected by His neighbors, friends, and even many family members.  Essentially, the beginning of Christ's ministry was a failure.  Yet, rather than giving up, which is an absolutely absurd thought to imagine Christ giving up, Jesus regrouped, went to a different city, called apostles from a different part of the country, and got to work sharing His Father's message with anyone who would listen.

As I've further considered Christ's ministry, it's pretty clear that we was never very successful, at least not successful in the way that the world measures success.  Very few of the elite were convinced of the truthfulness of His message.  Christ spent His time with the poor, the lepers, the blind, and other "lesser" members of society.  He didn't have a nice home or nice things.  In the end, at least of His mortal life, His own people called for His crucifixion on the cross. 

If Christ had a resume, it wouldn't be very impressive, and yet, He was the most important person who ever lived.  What He did during His ministry, in the Garden of Gethsemane, and on the cross were the most important things that will ever be done.  He won the fight against sin and Satan.  He won our souls, if we will but follow Him.

As I've thought about Christ and His ability to face failure, I've realized that failure, which I've always dreaded, isn't nearly as bad as I thought.  I remember one time in college I was hanging out with some friends and everybody shared their greatest fear.  My greatest fear at that time was failure.  Yes, I struggle with perfectionism, and as I've learned recently, perfectionism is toxic.

The amount of pressure I have put on myself to get straight A's, be the perfect example of Gospel living, be kind when others were mean, be the best mom ever, never commit sin, etc., has been inordinate.  I grew up being told by friends, Church members, family members, etc. that I was "perfect," and I felt the intense desire to live up to those expectations because I liked that kind of attention.  Yet, I recently read in John 5:44, "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?"  When I read that scripture, it struck me that when I seek honor and recognition from other mortals rather than from God, I stunt my ability to believe and develop faith.  Christ didn't worry about His resume and how others saw His credentials.  He used His faith to heal the sick and take away the sins of all those who will follow Him and take advantage of the Atonement.

Mistakes and failures are part of mortality.  Sometimes our failures are a result of sin, and we need to use Christ's Atonement to repent.  Other times our failures are a result of simply being mortal.  Maybe we weren't quite smart enough to get the A.  Or maybe we weren't quite healthy enough to put forth the effort to accomplish our goal.  That's okay.  When we fail, we can dust off our shoes, repent if we need to, learn from our mistakes, and try to solve our problems with the help of the Lord.  His Atonement is there for us to use, and the only way we can truly "fail" is if we don't use it.

This is a video of a song called "Gethsemane" that has really touched me and helped me come to a deeper understanding of Christ's Atonement.

P.S.  Here are some pictures of the girls from this week.

Kirsten has been chewing on her hair.  So, lately I've been pulling it back everyday.  I'm pretty proud of this french braid.

Kirsten made this fox Valentine for her friend Elliot.  Yes, I know Valentine's Day is in more than a month, but she doesn't.

Painting like crazy.