Instead of being discouraged by how far we have to go, we can be encouraged by how far we have already come.
When I first started running, I could barely maintain a slow jog for more than a quarter of a mile. I would finish my exercise every morning and silently berate myself for needing to walk during what was supposed to be a run. The scolding didn’t help; I still needed to walk after just a few short minutes of running, and then the scolding would begin again. I felt bad for making my running buddies stop and walk with me, and even though they assured me that I would get stronger and faster, I couldn’t see an end to this cycle of failure that I was in.
Photo by Martin Alargent
It is normal to feel trapped in this cycle. Elder Neal A. Maxwell discusses such feelings of inadequacy in his talk “Notwithstanding My Weakness.” He uses several scriptural examples to show that everyone from Adam and Eve down to Jesus Christ himself experienced growth in stages. He says, “The scriptural advice, ‘Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength’ (D&C 10:4) suggests paced progress, much as God used seven creative periods in preparing man and this earth.” These stages of progress come with inadequacies, but there are several ways that we can overcome those weaknesses. Elder Maxwell offers us fourteen ideas, one of which is remembering that “we can contemplate how far we have already come in the climb along the pathway to perfection; it is usually much farther than we acknowledge.”
I started to notice progress on my runs when I stopped chastising myself and instead focused on small goals to work toward and celebrate. First, it was a half mile. Then it was a mile. Then I ran three miles (very slowly) without stopping. I’ve worked up from that original quarter of a mile to marathons—a full 26.2 miles. I’m still not very fast, and sometimes I still need to walk, but God cares so much more about how we are progressing than how fast we are progressing. Embracing this truth can help put our progression into an eternal perspective where every step—walking or running—is still movement toward our full potential.
Read or listen to Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s full talk “Notwithstanding My Weakness” to find more of his insights on handling feelings of inadequacy.
Source: General Conference
—Adi Marshall, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY GREGORY COSTA
Find more insights
Read Morgan Heath’s article “Finding Peace in Imperfection” to learn how God’s grace helps us in our imperfections and weaknesses.
Read or watch Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk “The Laborers in the Vineyard” to learn about how God’s grace allows each of us an individualized journey through life.