My Lame Mortal Offerings

God takes your mortal offerings and yes, they're lame, but He asks you to give Him your very best and that is good enough. Gordon B. Hinckley's famous phrase is 'try a little harder to be a little better', but what happens when you waste a day or a week or a really long time and you don't give your best? The things I have to offer to my Heavenly Father are almost never 100% of me--I could always be doing so much more--yet I keep trying. Yoda said "do or do not, there is no try", but I think Heavenly Father understands when we do just that. The standard Sunday school answers of 'go to church', 'read your scriptures', 'pray', 'pay tithing', 'fast', 'keep a journal', and 'move forward in faith' are exactly what Elder Bednar agrees with. He said, "Ordinary people who faithfully, diligently, and consistently do simple things that are right before God will bring forth extraordinary results." In class Brother Griffin said that we are not doing all these things for God; He is giving all these things to us as gifts to grow. He gave us the example of our human bodies. He said, "stop looking at your body as if it's really you; it's a gift from your Heavenly Father that you inhabit for a short time." I've always loved the quote, "you are not a human having a spiritual experience; you are a Spirit having a human experience." Kind of scary, but it really puts it all into perspective.

 And even if I try and try and do so well then fail Him, I know that I have to start over again. There is beauty in beginning again. There is joy in knowing that I can try again. There is so much joy. Although I'm not going to keep getting infinite start-overs, I am learning more about this body and this person I am becoming, and I am learning to love the life I've been so blessed to live. Yes, I do everything for the God in Heaven who created me, but He does so much more for me.