Your Very Best

In chapter 10 of the book The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis, there is an interesting scene when the two horses and their riders have just crossed the desert and are making their way to Anvard to warn the people there that enemies are coming to attack.  The two talking horses, when they see that the enemy soldiers are in view and getting close, start to push themselves to go faster to get to their destination before the attacking army.  The girl Aravis shouted to one of the horses, “Gallop, Bree, gallop.  Remember you’re a war horse.”  The narrator commented, “And certainly both Horses were doing, if not all they could, all they thought they could; which is not quite the same thing.”  Suddenly they heard a snarling roar behind them and found that a lion was behind them chasing them.  The narrator continued, “And Bree now discovered that he had not really been going as fast—not quite as fast—as he could.  Shasta felt the change at once.  Now they were really going all out.”  The lion, they would find out later, was actually Aslan, the symbol of Christ in the book.  He came not to eat them but to push them forward so that would truly give it their all and make it in time to warn the people of the approaching army.  The horse found out that when he thought he was giving it his all to save the people of Anvard, he wasn’t really.

               This story reminds me of a quote from President Hinckley.  He often told us as the prophet that we need to “do our best.”  Ironically, some apparently took this as an excuse for mediocrity, for he said in 2004, “I have been quoted as saying, ‘Do the best you can.’ But I want to emphasize that it be the very best. We are too prone to be satisfied with mediocre performance. We are capable of doing so much better.”  On the one hand, we know that no matter what effort we put forth, “It is by grace that we are saved” (2 Nephi 25:23).  It is through “the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” that we can be sanctified and prepared to return to the presence of our Father in Heaven, and yet our Messiah requires that we must do “all we can do” in reconciling ourselves to Him (2 Nephi 2:8).  Like the horse Bree running not quite full out, it is very easy to suppose that we are doing all that we could reasonably be expected to do to follow the Savior, to keep His commandments, to serve God’s children (aren’t we way more righteous than most of the world around us, anyway?); but that may not be the same thing as the “very best” that President Hinckley so often encouraged us to give.  The Lord is not out to help us become a little better and be more righteous than most of the people around us; He wants to change our natures completely to “be perfect” like He and the Father are.  I think we see this theme in the story of the rich young man in the New Testament.  He said to the Savior, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” (Matt. 19:16)  This young man was clearly keeping the requirements of the law and was a good person, but when the Savior suggested that there was in fact still a greater sacrifice to make, “He went away sorrowful.”  He thought he could simply do some single “good thing” to ensure his eternal salvation, but the Lord required of him an enduring sacrifice of the heart.   

            This of course is not meant to imply that we need to be in a constant state of feeling that we can never do enough or always be in a frenzy to try to do more.  King Benjamin taught, “All these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.”  But, he immediately cautioned, “It is expedient that he should be diligent” (Mosiah 4:27).  President Oaks put it this way: what we need “is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”  The key metric I believe was given in this verse of the Doctrine and Covenants: “Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind” (64:34).  We can seek each day to fully give our heart and our mind to the Lord, serving Him the best we can each day, without being overwhelmed with the feeling that we are never enough.  Like Bree, who was motivated to move forward when he turned around and saw Aslan, we too must see Christ encouraging us and move forward with greater zeal to live the life He requires.