PREACHING TO THE STANDARD - NOT NECESSARILY THE REALITY

OK - one last one for the day....

This is from one of my comments on a recent post that I though was repeating as a post:

I have to say here - people have chimed into the blog at times feeling deflated and upset that I have been too harsh or judgmental; and I understand where they are coming from.

Almost every single talk (and Priesthood lesson) I have ever given in Church (I love teaching the children, because I never have to preface anything I say with them - they are still unsullied and still forming an opinion and fully teachable; us adults, not so much) is prefaced with the old statement that what I am about to give is the Lord's standard that we could/should aspire to. Where we are actually at is a whole other topic. I always tow the line of where we should be at and rarely ever cater to the world's standard. Even in my own life, I always preach to the theoretical, but fall short repeatedly - and I have a wife and four kids who can attest to that detail..... Otherwise, I would already be hanging around with the likes of Enoch and Elijah etc.

My daughter and I went to get some hay a few weeks ago and on the long drive, she asked how someone could be imperfect and have a solid testimony (like I do). I think she thought you had to be perfect in order to have the Spirit witness strongly to you. I chuckled and began to list my imperfections (sorry, no joy on that one, the comments only allow 4000 characters...) but then I also went over how each one of those imperfections has helped me become a stronger person.

I knew I was in trouble and had departed the path to some degree when I could not read past the first couple of chapters as a teenager, in The Miracle of Forgiveness. It was just giving me way too many gut punches and I knew repentance was in order at that point. So it is with some of the harder things that we bump into - such as what Denver Snuffer has been writing (that all is not well in Zion). To balance out all perspectives here in the comments, though, truly, when I have been off the path, I took the truth to be hard. As I aligned myself with the principles of the Gospel, it became easier for me. Truly His yoke is easy and the burden is light - when we are striving in a spirit of humility.