100224, Wednesday

Vitals: Weight: 223.1, GMI: 6.9, Yesterday's Steps: 9,154

Journal Entry 

I met with Elder Wilson who is in charge of the Bishops Storehouse and requested that Cathy and I would only work on Tuesdays in the future. We agreed to continue with Tuesdays and Thursdays until the end of October and that after that it would be Tuesdays only for us. Our mission is for 18 months and we have pretty much completed that but we would like to continue by working on Tuesdays and he agreed.

We had a good day at the Storehouse yesterday. There are occasional issues and right or wrong it's handy to have a 6'7" healthy looking male around even if he is in his late 70s. And I enjoy being there and helping in any way I'm needed.

Serving at the temple today. It appears that I'm officiating an endowment session. We don't really officiated anymore as much as we start the recording when needed and still them when needed. I also will conduct the prayer circle and that hasn't changed much. Anyway, I enjoy serving in the temple once a week and we now go every Saturday morning and usually do an endowment session as patrons.

We have Erica a few baptisms to do and she seems to enjoy doing that and it's very helpful to us.

Come Follow Me 

3 Nephi 13. A continuation of the sermon on the mount as given on the American continent.

3 Nephi 12:48 Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.

"Our only hope for true perfection is in receiving it as a gift from heaven—we can’t “earn” it. Thus, the grace of Christ offers us not only salvation from sorrow and sin and death but also salvation from our own persistent self-criticism...

My brothers and sisters, except for Jesus, there have been no flawless performances on this earthly journey we are pursuing, so while in mortality let’s strive for steady improvement without obsessing over what behavioral scientists call “toxic perfectionism.” We should avoid that latter excessive expectation of ourselves and of others and, I might add, of those who are called to serve in the Church—which for Latter-day Saints means everyone, for we are all called to serve somewhere...

Brothers and sisters, every one of us aspires to a more Christlike life than we often succeed in living. If we admit that honestly and are trying to improve, we are not hypocrites; we are human. May we refuse to let our own mortal follies, and the inevitable shortcomings of even the best men and women around us, make us cynical about the truths of the gospel, the truthfulness of the Church, our hope for our future, or the possibility of godliness. If we persevere, then somewhere in eternity our refinement will be finished and complete—which is the New Testament meaning of perfection."

     Elder Jeffrey R. Holland Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2017

This  "Be ye therefore perfect" verse that appears in both the New Testament and  Book of Mormon versions of the Sermon on the Mount seems to cause a certain level of concern among some members of the Church. I, of course, believe that I have the correct interpretation, which is:

This verse follows the Savior teaching us the correct way to handle challenging situations which we encounter in our mortal lives such as "love your enemies",  "don't lust", "If someone forces you to go a mile, go twain" etc. 

When the Savior is encouraging us to "be ye therefore perfect" he is not telling us to immediately be as "perfect" as he is but rather he is encouragjng us to make decisions and live our lives based on his teachings.