The Most Important Lesson of All

So today, I think I had one of the greatest epiphanies I could ever have, and I feel the need to share it with you. I went to church today, at a ward out here in Jersey. The family I'm staying with isn't of my faith, but my aunt let me use her car to drive to church, a blessing I truly appreciate. Being there alone was hard for me, it's not something I'm use to, but I went because I know that I needed to. Anyway, so during RS the teacher gave a lesson about Jesus...while well intentioned, she stated that she wanted to cover the ENTIRE life of Christ during the lesson, and wanted us to provide ample comments. What?! I mean no disrespect but both of those expectations are lofty at best and fight each other. It's either we are going to cover the entire life of Christ during the hour OR we will comment on what we choose. Not both, never both. So, as the lesson commenced, she became uneasy as she saw time tick away, with barely the prophesies and birth of Christ covered, and a room full of women staring blankly at her as she had us flip endlessly from one scripture to another. Don't get me wrong, she was well intentioned, but...alas to little avail. So about half way through the lesson, sometime after I abandoned following the scriptures, a older lady in the class made a comment that changed everything. Timidly raising her hand, she spoke, " I always find it hard to discuss the examples of Christ because I feel that I always fall short. I have a really hard time forgiving people. I try, and just when I think I've got it, something comes up to show me that I really haven't forgiven them. I just don't know what to do." Admittedly, I dislike hearing people constantly bring up how they fall short of Christ's example, of course you do, it's Christ. That fact is for introspection, not to beat yourself down with. The combination of that, the tone of the lesson, and mostly my recent unhappiness with some of my actions and feelings, prompted me to speak. So in the midst of a group of women I knew nothing about, I raised my hand, and let the Spirit speak through me. I said, " I draw, and when drawing a picture you quickly realize that there are two ways of approaching it. You can start by drawing each and every detail, but the problem is that when you finish, the picture isn't going to look the way you want it to. The perspective will be off, the lines won't match up right, and even though all of the details are perfect, the overall picture, will still be flawed. So then you learn that what you need to do is first, rough sketch the entire thing, and watch the details fall into place. That's the same thing with using Christ's example. First we have to sketch out the big picture which is developing the pure love of Christ in our lives and then we'll find that doing things like forgiving others will just come naturally." Now for some of you, this is a duh moment, or so you think. The reason this was such an epiphany is because I, like most of you have probably gotten bogged down in everything I'm doing wrong. But that's not the point, yes, should we fix those things? Absolutely, but why make it more difficult than it needs to be. Rough sketch your picture! And you know what else, use an eraser! If the edges of your beautiful self-portrait start to dull, or veer off, erase it and pen a new loving stroke. When I say I love you all, I mean it. I try very hard to develop the pure love of Christ for everyone, and I definitely feel I have made some good strides towards doing so. Also, don't get distracted. Loving everyone doesn't mean liking everyone or everything they do. Remember when Christ over turned the money changers' tables in the tabernacle? He was very angry with them, but you know what? He died for them too, just the same as you and me. Remember when he rebuked his own disciples because they fell asleep while he atoned for our sins? Yup, still loved them even though at the time he was disappointed. It's okay to be upset or unhappy with someone but still love them. Finally, give yourself a break! It's okay that you don't have it all figured out. Your picture is still being drawn, and guess what, it won't be until that final moment that the whole thing will come together. Your going to make mistakes, your going to lose face, drop the ball, forget why you try, and want to give up, but guess what, Christ's atoning or our sins is that handy dandy eraser that allows you to fix every single erring stoke. I love you, I love myself, and I love the Savior, and those three truths are why I have written this for you all to see. My epiphany is to help us all, I know that of a certainty, and I hope you take away from this at least a portion of what I have.