Life can often feel overwhelming, but God is aware of our imperfections. Knowing this truth can make life a wonderful journey of discipleship.
Life can often feel like an adventure where surprises, disappointments, and challenges can overwhelm our best efforts. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf makes this exact comparison in his October 2019 general conference address titled “Your Great Adventure.” He tells about the adventure of Bilbo Baggins, an unsuspecting character in Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Although initially reluctant to do so, Bilbo takes a leap of faith by giving up the comfort of his simple life to embark on the journey of a lifetime. Elder Uchtdorf then draws an analogy between Bilbo’s journey and our own mortal journey on Earth.
Similar to Bilbo’s experience, our earthly adventure may seem uncomfortable, and at various points we will all feel as though our imperfections and lack of knowledge render us inadequate to complete it. When we feel this way, Elder Uchtdorf encourages us to “remember that discipleship is not about doing things perfectly, it’s about doing things intentionally.”
God knows and understands that we cannot achieve perfection in this life, and perfection is not the ultimate goal of our mortal adventure. He just wants us to try. By making small, intentional choices every day, we can make steady progress and learn how to overcome our mistakes and shortcomings.
Photo by Ben Curry
The word disciple has roots in Latin and Greek that translate to “learner,” “pupil,” or “student.” This perfectly describes our relationship with Jesus: He is the master teacher, and we strive every day to learn from him. Like students in a classroom, we don’t know everything and need guidance in order to grow, but with hard work, dedication, and a pure desire to learn Christ’s gospel, we will become more like him with each intentional choice we make.
We shouldn’t be afraid to begin our great adventure. God knows that we aren’t perfect, so we shouldn’t let our inevitable mistakes stop us from moving forward. As we replace that fear with faith and remember that the goal of the journey is to learn, we can trust the Lord’s teachings, be intentional in our daily efforts to follow them, and choose to progress through the journey of life.
Read “Your Great Adventure” by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf to learn more about how to successfully navigate through the journey of life.
Source: ChurchofJesusChrist.org
—Abby Christensen, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY JONATHAN OUIMET
Find more insights
Discover more insights about this topic from Kjanela Fawcett’s Latter-day Saints Insights article “The Adventure Lasts a Lifetime.”
Read President Thomas S. Monson’s address “Choices” to understand more about the importance of being intentional with choices.
Excellent article Abby. Very proud of you.
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