"Be ye therefore perfect...."

The following is the talk I gave in sacrament meeting on February 22, 2009:

As you’ve learned by now, our family was asked to speak about 3 Nephi 11-13. I had the great joy of teaching the Sunday School Book of Mormon course this past year, and my testimony of the Book of Mormon was increased beyond measure. I love the Book of Mormon and how rich it is in teachings about and of the Savior. I have a feeling that the entire theme of General Conference, both April and October, could be 3 Nephi 11-13, and the sessions might just go beyond their usual time frames. Fortunately for all of you, each of us is taking only a portion of the riches to share with you today.

3 Nephi 12:48 reads as follows: “Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” Okay. Piece of cake. I should probably tell you that Bro. Christopherson asked us to speak about this because he knows I *am* perfect. If you don’t believe me, ask my sweet husband or our wonderful children. Okay, I confess, I’m not REALLY perfect. Not even a little.

So why would Jesus direct us to be perfect? He didn’t say, “Try to be perfect.” He didn’t say, “Be good.” He said, “I would that ye should be perfect.” We all know that none of us will attain perfection in this life. At least not the way we usually understand the word. We commonly think the word means “unimprovable.” But that is rarely what is meant in the scriptures. As Latter-day Saints, we believe in eternal progression. My Sunday School kids will tell you that I love the use of “action” words in the Book of Mormon. We’re instructed to feast on the scriptures, to hearken to the words of Christ, to pour out our souls in mighty prayer. In my mind, the word “perfect” in the scriptures is also an action word; not a passive one. So what did Jesus mean?

In the New Testament the Greek word translated “perfect” is teleios, and I apologize to anyone here who speaks Greek and finds my pronunciation to be painful. Teleios means ripe, mature, ready, complete, whole, etc. As Stephen Robinson described, “An apple on the tree might be called teleios when it was ripe and ready to be picked, but that doesn’t mean it was an unimprovable apple. It might still have a worm in it.”

Brigham Young explained:

“We all occupy diversified stations in the world, and in the kingdom of God. Those who do right and seek the glory of the Father in heaven, whether their knowledge be little or much, or whether they can do little, or much, if they do the very best they know how, they are perfect….‘Be ye as perfect as ye can,’ for that is all we can do, though it is written, ‘Be ye perfect as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.’ To be as perfect as we possibly can, according to our knowledge, is to be just as perfect as our Father in heaven is. He cannot be any more perfect than He knows how, any more than we. When we are doing as well as we know how in the sphere and station which we occupy here, we are justified.”

Some of you may know that I am a court reporter by profession. It is my job to capture verbatim deposition testimony as well as court proceedings. I have two certifications to my name. The first I received in 1993. I had to take a test; four-voice dictation at 200 wpm, transcribed with 98-percent accuracy. The other certification came after I took a three-part test, the last of which was a two-voice dictation at 225 wpm. My family will tell you that I have told them that they are to keep those certifications active until I draw my last breath. I am not interested in taking those tests again!

In the spring of 2005, I took a job in Fresno Superior Court. I had to sign a contract stating that I would write “realtime” for any judge for whom I worked. There were about 36 judges at that time, none of whom I knew. The day before I took that job, I actually had a dream that I was giving birth. I was very anxious about having my imperfections there for all to see. Well, okay, so just some judges. But have you seen how mean judges are on TV? They call this “writing naked” for good reason. Have any of you read closed captioning on television or the movies? This is done by court reporters or captioners who are capturing extremely difficult, rapidly spoken words. I confess that I often get a chuckle at some of the mistakes that are made by the captioners. But I have great respect for these professionals, and I know that their job is really hard and many people benefit from their effort to get it as accurately as possible.

Anyway, I had that court job nearly a year and a half and loved it. Some days my writing was really good; other days it was embarrassingly bad. We had at least one judge who spoke like that guy in the old FedEx commercial years ago. I received compliments from several of the judges. They loved having the ability to read the proceedings as they were occurring. Whenever an attorney would object, the judge just had to look at his or her computer screen to review what had transpired before the objection and then make a ruling. It saved a lot of time. They had good things to say about my skill. And did I puff up with pride and accept that as my due? Of course not! Being a true LDS woman, I had a running monologue in my head that said things like, “Oh, no way. Doesn’t the judge know I’m really bad? I’m a fraud! I hope they never get to see a REAL realtime reporter’s work,” etc.

Darryl has been after me for a long time since I returned to the deposition arena, even conspiring with some of the agencies who hire me, to start accepting realtime jobs. That means I would hook up my laptop, which is already hooked up to my steno machine, to the computers of others in the proceedings. It is very daunting. But what really holds me back is that my brain has convinced me that I must be perfect in every way BEFORE I can write realtime. Will that day ever happen? Of course not. But what I learned when I was a realtime reporter in court is that my writing was better when I knew that I was not the only one seeing it before it was edited. The judge was “watching.” I can promise you that my writing was the best it has ever been. And I know that will happen again. I am in the process of preparing to be a realtime reporter again, and it scares the daylights out of me. Not because I can’t do it; intellectually, I know that I can, but because it’s going to be hard. It will require all my concentration, my willingness to accept the mistakes I will make and find better ways to write. I will have to practice. Even after 16 years as a reporter, I need to practice. Because what is the saying? “Practice makes perfect.” Now, what I really wish I had was a “sacrament” to take after each week’s work, to renew my promises to be a better reporter next week…

When I joined the Church at age 15, I was barely familiar with the Book of Mormon. I had a tender testimony that required study and learning and prayer and mighty doses of the Holy Ghost. I was blessed with phenomenal teachers and leaders who helped me to nurture my testimony. When I was 16, I received my patriarchal blessing, where I was told that I had a testimony at an early age that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and that that testimony would carry me through the temptations and trials I would face. Boy, if I had been given a glimpse of what I would face over the next 30 years, I think I might have run the other way! But a regular reading of my patriarchal blessing has reminded me that the Lord DID have more than a glimpse, and He was encouraging me to hang on for the ride.

I have learned over the years that I need to continue to “practice” being a Latter-day Saint. I struggle with reading my scriptures and praying…why? Not because I don’t believe in the power of scriptures and in prayer, but because that awful monologue comes back and tries to tell me that I’m not worthy enough, I’m not good enough, the Lord doesn’t want to hear me whine again. But when I DO read the scriptures, my mind is overwhelmed with absolute certainty that these are the word of God. My heart swells with love for Heavenly Father and with a desire to be a better daughter. I realize how much I miss Him and want to be with Him forever. And sometimes when I pray in private, I feel overcome with emotion. I remember that God loves me. That He WANTS to hear from me and that He misses me too. So I realize that practice makes perfect, well, it is a divinely inspired quote. If I practice living the Gospel, I will become more perfect every day. I will never BE perfect in this life, but thankfully, the Atonement of Jesus Christ is there to help me complete the process of perfection. I just need to keep practicing. And practicing. And practicing…..

Bruce R. McConkie said:

“We begin to keep the commandments today, and we keep more of them tomorrow, and we go from grace to grace, up the steps of the ladder, and we thus improve and perfect our souls. We can become perfect in some minor things….and so degree by degree and step by step we start out on the course to perfection with the objective of becoming perfect as God our Heavenly Father is perfect, in which eventuality we become inheritors of eternal life in his kingdom.”

He also said:

“I think we ought to have hope; I think we ought to have rejoicing. We can talk about the principles of salvation and say how many there are and how people have to meet these standards. And it may thereby seem hard and difficult and beyond the capacity of mortals so to obtain. But we need not take that approach. We ought to realize that we have the same appetites and passions that all of the saints and righteous people had in the dispensations that have gone before. They were no different than we are. They overcame the flesh.”

So, no, I am not perfect. But I want to obey the Lord’s command to BE perfect, and I remembered that this morning as I partook of the sacrament; my opportunity to renew my covenants made at baptism to take upon myself the name of Christ. And I hope that this week I will be just a little better than last week. And so on.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.