“Success,” it has been
said, “isn’t the absence of failure, but going from failure to failure without
any loss of enthusiasm.”
Thomas Edison
purportedly said, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention
with 1,000 steps.”
Hopefully, each
mistake we make becomes a lesson in wisdom, turning stumbling blocks into
stepping-stones.
why does He allow
us—to flounder and fail in our attempts to succeed? Among many important
answers to that question, here are a few:
First, the Lord knows
that “these things shall give [us] experience, and shall be for [our] good.”
Second, to allow us to
“taste the bitter, that [we] may know to prize the good.”
Third, to prove that
“the battle is the Lord’s,” and it is only by His grace that we can accomplish
His work and become like Him.
Fourth, to help us
develop and hone scores of Christ like attributes that cannot be refined except
through opposition and “in the furnace of affliction.”
So, amid a life full
of stumbling blocks and imperfection, we all are grateful for second chances.
While we are grateful
for second chances following mistakes, or failures of the mind, we stand all
amazed at the Savior’s grace in giving us second chances in overcoming sin, or
failures of the heart.
If to err is human
nature, how many failures will it take us until our nature is no longer human
but divine? Thousands? More likely a million.
The opposition which
He allows can often seem insurmountable and almost impossible to bear, yet He
doesn’t leave us without hope.
To keep our hope
resilient as we face life’s trials, the Savior’s grace is ever ready and ever
present. His grace is a “divine means of help or strength, … an enabling power
that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they
have expended their own best efforts.”
Repentance is God’s
ever-accessible gift that allows and enables us to go from failure to failure
without any loss of enthusiasm. Repentance isn’t His backup plan in the event
we might fail. Repentance is His plan, knowing that we will.
If we partake with a
broken heart and a contrite spirit, He proffers us weekly pardon as we progress
from failure to failure along the covenant path.
But just how many
times will He forgive us? How long is His long-suffering? On one occasion Peter
asked the Savior, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive
him? till seven times?”
“Jesus saith unto him,
I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
Obviously, the Savior
was not establishing an upper limit of 490. That would be analogous to saying
that partaking of the sacrament has a limit of 490, and then on the 491st time,
a heavenly auditor intercedes and says, “I’m so sorry, but your repentance card
just expired—from this point forward, you’re on your own.”
“Yea, and as often as
my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me.”
But as oft as they
repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven.”
Real intent implies
with real effort and real change. “Change” is the principal word the Guide to
the Scriptures uses to define repentance.
we need to continue
getting up each time we fall, with a desire to keep growing and progressing
despite our weaknesses.
I know as we continue
to apply the atonement in our life's we can be forgiven as many times as we
need. Like it says in this talk there is no repentance card, we have no limit.
But we must always try and improve once we have made a mistake. I know we can
over come hard things in our lives and get back on the right path. It takes
time and effort sometimes but I know we can do it if we truly want to be
better.
No comments:
Post a Comment