Pres. Uchtodrf: Great Quote for All of Us

Pres. Uchtdorf said the following in a talk during the October 2011 General Relief Society Conference called “Forget Me Not”. It was addressed to the women of the Church,. but I love how it applies to everyone – and, especially, for those struggling with a crisis of faith. There are some real gems I have highlighted that apply beyond the easy, first assumption. Thus, I have removed the reference to sisters and changed the wording to be applicable to everyone:

First, forget not to be patient with yourself.

I want to tell you something that I hope you will take in the right way:

God is fully aware that you and I are not perfect.

Let me add:

God is also fully aware that the people you think are perfect are not.

And yet we spend so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others—usually comparing our weaknesses to their strengths. This drives us to create expectations for ourselves that are impossible to meet. As a result, we never celebrate our good efforts because they seem to be less than what someone else does.

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

It’s wonderful that you have strengths.

And it is part of your mortal experience that you do have weaknesses.

God wants to help us to eventually turn all of our weaknesses into strengths, but He knows that this is a long-term goal.

Many of you are endlessly compassionate and patient with the weaknesses of others. Please remember also to be compassionate and patient with yourself.

In the meantime, be thankful for all the small successes in your home, your family relationships, your education and livelihood, your Church participation and personal improvement. Like the forget-me-nots, these successes may seem tiny to you and they may go unnoticed by others, but God notices them and they are not small to Him. If you consider success to be only the most perfect rose or dazzling orchid, you may miss some of life’s sweetest experiences.

For example, insisting that you have a picture-perfect family home evening each week—even though doing so makes you and everyone around you miserable—may not be the best choice. Instead, ask yourself, “What could we do as a family that would be enjoyable and spiritual and bring us closer together?” That family home evening—though it may be modest in scope and execution—may have far more positive long-term results.

He is talking here about recognizing the weakness of everyone (notice, no disclaimers in that statement), not putting unrealistic expectations on ourselves and, especially important, adapting “standard programs” to do what is best for ourselves and our families – and making those adaptation decisions on our own, not based on some universal standard.

All of us can reference this talk directly when anyone questions our dedication or faith simply because our choices are different than others’ choices and we recognize that everyone, even prophets and apostles, aren’t perfect. We don’t have to argue, condemn or be confrontational, but we can say (grin and wink to cwald):

I’m trying to follow the prophets as they try to teach us that the Gospel and Atonement are more important than culture and programs.