There are times when the gospel seems a little overwhelming. Between family, a Church calling, daily prayer and scripture study, home teaching, helping other ward members and neighbors, and countless other activities, sometimes it seems like there is never enough time in the day to complete all of our tasks. To top things off, we will slip up and make mistakes. Does this mean that we’re not qualified to be a member of the Church, or not worthy to feel Christ’s love for us? Not at all.
Christ never promised that only the perfect would be blessed. Teaching the sermon on the mount, He didn’t say “blessed are the righteous.” Rather, He instead shared, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness.” None of us are perfect, and none of us are expected to be perfect on our own - it is only through Christ and His Atonement that we are able to reach that level, and, during this life, it will only be for small amounts at a time. We may repent, go to Church, take the sacrament, and, just hours later, sin once again. We had been perfect, but only for a few minutes. What do we do? We repent again. We move forward, and we become perfect in Christ.
This becoming is not a single event. We become perfect again and again and again, each time we slip away from our perfection. Even if we’re not able to meet all of the duties that we think we should, or we feel that we don’t adequately fulfill the role that we should play in our lives, we still can be, for just a few moments, perfect, as Christ has commanded us to be. We must not look at our mortal failures marring our perfection, but instead look upon ourselves as Christ would - seeing the perfect spirit that is inside. When we keep this goal in mind, and focus only on the positive, doing our best to repent daily and strive for perfection, that is when we are truly perfect.