While achieving perfection may seem like an impossible feat, the perfect first step is asking our Heavenly Father, “What lack I yet?”
Becoming perfect can seem daunting, but perfection is ultimately required by our Heavenly Father if we want to return to live with him. So how do we accomplish this seemingly impossible feat? Elder Larry R. Lawrence suggests a doable first step in his talk “What Lack I Yet?” He teaches us that asking our Heavenly Father what we lack and then listening for his answer can help us receive personalized feedback for how we can improve.
Photo by Daria Shevstova
This feedback can take many forms. Although we may be looking for grand guidance, we may receive simple answers, and they can still be transformative. The feedback may be that we need to read the scriptures or pray more regularly. Or the feedback may be that we should stop complaining or clean our room, as Elder Lawrence explains in his talk. Whatever feedback we receive, acting on the guidance can help us become better and become more.
When I listened to Elder Lawrence’s suggestion and sincerely asked Heavenly Father what I lacked, I received the answer that I should delete Instagram from my phone. I didn’t have an unhealthy relationship with social media, so I wasn’t expecting this answer. But I listened and followed. Afterward, I noticed that I was more present with my fiancé and my sister, I paid more attention in classes, and I was more productive in my downtime. Consequently, I had more time at night to read my scriptures.
Regardless of the answer we receive when we ask our Heavenly Father what we lack, acting on the prompting will help us move closer to perfection. And once we follow the first prompting, we can ask our Heavenly Father what else we lack and act on the next prompting. We can repeat this process again and again until we reach our potential.
Read Elder Lawrence’s talk “What Lack I Yet?” to learn more about how asking this question can help us become what our Heavenly Father expects us to be.
Source: www.churchofjesuschrist.org
—Claire Parker, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY OLYA KOBRUSEVA
Find more insights
Read Anna Freeman’s Latter-day Saint Insights article “Erase the Anxiety of Perfection” to learn how to deal with the pressure of perfection.
Watch or read Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk “Be Ye Therefore Perfect—Eventually” to learn more about our Heavenly Father’s expectation of perfection.