Be ye therefore perfect...

Yesterday was our combined RS/PH meeting.  I don't get to go, because I am in the primary presidency and, well, someone has to take care of all the kiddos!  But I did peek in a couple of times when it seemed like primary was going smoothly.  One of the scriptures they talked about extensively was Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father which is in Heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)  I was thinking about that scripture, and about the commandment we receive in it...and it occurred to me-why would our Father give us a commandment that is impossible?  He wouldn't.  It IS possible for us to become perfect.  BUT it does NOT say be ye therefore perfect RIGHT NOW.  Obviously he knows it is something we have to work at, something that is a process, and he doesn't expect it of us this instant.  But he does expect it of us, one step at a time.  And I realized-I need to stop making excuses for myself.  I always make excuses for myself with keeping my home clean, with my prayer and scripture study, and with many other things.  I have no excuse.  I'm not even trying, I'm giving it the effort I want to spare, and making excuses for the rest, that HF doesn't expect me to be perfect. Well, he does, and from now on I'm going to try a lot harder to be perfect.  To make my home a place of refuge for my family, by keeping it clean, by inviting the spirit into my home, by being loving toward my family and not losing my temper.  And by leaning a lot more and confiding a lot more in my Father.  We CAN become perfect.  And it can even be achieved in this lifetime.  

I often say to my husband "There was only one perfect person, and it's not me!"  But that's not true.  Christ was the only sinless person.  But there were others who attained perfection.  The three Nephites were among those.  It is possible.  

I know that I will make mistakes, because obviously I have not yet reached perfection.  And for that we have the Atonement.  That is what will help us reach perfection on the days that we just aren't capable of it (which, if you're anything like me, will be at least 24 times a day!)