Perfected in Him

I really appreciated the message of Elder Vern P. Stanfill in the most recent general conference. He told how he grew up on a farm and how important the fall harvest was for them. He related, “My father taught me about the equipment we used to harvest grain. I watched as he would move the machinery into the field, cut a small swath of grain, and then check behind the combine to make sure that as much grain as possible landed in the holding tank and was not thrown out with the chaff. He repeated this exercise several times, adjusting the machine each time. I ran alongside and pawed through the chaff with him and pretended that I knew what I was doing. After he was satisfied with the adjustments to the machine, I found some kernels of grain in the chaff on the ground and presented them to him with a critical look. I will not forget what my father said to me: ‘It is good enough and the best that this machine can do.’” He was not satisfied with the imperfections of the harvest until what happened as the weather turned cold: “I watched thousands of migrating swans, geese, and ducks descend onto the fields to nourish themselves on their long journey south. They ate the leftover grain from our imperfect harvest. God had perfected it. And not a kernel was lost.” The lesson of this story is that while we should strive to do our best, we should not expect perfection where is cannot now be achieved—that machine simply could not be expected to get every single morsel of grain. And similarly for us, we cannot expect of ourselves perfection in areas where that is simply not possible. But we can expect that the Lord will use our own “imperfect harvest” and He will perfect it and use us as He sees fit. What matters is that we are coming unto the Savior and seeking to let Him perfect us: “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” (Moroni 10:32).

            Perhaps the message of Elder Stanfill is applicable to those of us who as parents wonder if our efforts in the “harvest” have been enough. As I look back on my own shortcomings as a parent, wondering if I wouldn’t have helped my children more by doing this or that thing more consistently when they were younger, I know that indeed my efforts to sow and reap have been very imperfect. For my older children I can think of many things I now wish I had done more regularly with them in their early years which would have significantly helped them now. But I guess what matters is continuing my best efforts in the future and trusting in the Lord of the harvest. He encouraged us in these words: “The Savior stands ready to accept our humble offerings and perfect them through His grace. With Christ, there is no imperfect harvest. We must have the courage to believe that His grace is for us—that He will help us, rescue us from the depths when we falter, and perfect our less-than-perfect efforts.”  When Moroni worried that his best efforts were not enough, telling the Lord, “The Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing,” the Savior responded, “Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek” (Ether 12:23, 26). No matter who imperfect our individual harvest is, especially as parents, if we stay humble and seek the Lord diligently, His grace will be sufficient to turn all our efforts eventually into something far more glorious than we can imagine.