Another New Year

As I reflect on another year passing, and another starting, I feel it is time to summarize some of my posts about choices and sticking to them.  Everyone is thinking about their New Years resolutions.  As we think about our lives and what we need to change, let's not set ourselves up for the usual failure of resolutions.

In Matthew 5:48 The Lord tells us to be perfect.  Of course this is our ultimate goal, but perhaps not tomorrow.  D&C 10:4 tells us not to run faster than we have strength.  So What do we do?  The answer may be in figuring out how fast we really are able to run.  The last line in the D&C verse I just referenced says, "but be diligent unto the end."  The Lord himself "grew grace to grace" (D&C 93:12-13).  Certainly, he doesn't expect us to get there any other way.  He tells us we will be given "line upon line: precept on precept: here a little, there a little"(Isaiah 28:10).

The road to perfection is a long one.  Most of us (certainly me) have just begun the journey.  As we decide what to set as our resolutions this year let's look at the tools we have to make decisions.  These were discussed in my earlier posts: "Making Right Choices" and "More on Choices" posted on November 9 and 15.  Particular attention should be given to listening with our hearts and asking "The Author".   Of course it does no good to ask if we don't listen closely for the answer.

Once we have figured out what the most important things are that we need to work on, look back at my post entitled "Baby Steps."   Break down our resolutions into steps that we are sure we can do.  If that means just doing something one day at a time until we have made definite progress,  that's what we do. It is important that we have someone to report our progress to.  This should be The Lord.  At the end of the day we tell him what we have done and ask again what we need to do tomorrow.  It could also be a psychologist or counselor  if you aren't comfortable with prayer.  As we take baby steps, and keep taking them, we will find that we can take bigger steps, and even bigger ones, until we master the principle we are working on.  Just remember, perfection is a lifelong project.

Let me caution everyone here.  When The Lord tells us not to run faster than we have strength, we need to understand He DOES expect us to run just as fast as we can.  No one knows how fast that is except us and The Lord.  Sometimes we don't even know what we are capable of, but He does.  This is why we must listen to our Hearts and find the answers He is giving us.  And don't take such tiny steps that we are making little or no progress.  One more caution:  This is a lifetime project, but we never know how long that lifetime will be.  I believe the prophecies about the end of the world are meant to scare us;  because the end of the world for any one of us is the day we pass from this mortal life.  We must prepare for that day as if it could be tomorrow.

To sum up,  we have the tools to make choices.  Ask (after we do our homework) and listen with our hearts.  The answers are there.  Once we make those choices, we take baby steps, or, if we are capable, giant steps.  Above all,  when The Lord said, "be diligent unto the end" He was telling us to KEEP STEPPING.