His Grace is Sufficient

To my son,

               I want to write to you today about the grace of Jesus Christ. The word grace refers to the power and help that Jesus Christ gives us to overcome our weaknesses and challenges that we face in life. We recently read in the Book of Mormon these words of the Savior from Moroni about His grace: “If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me” (Ether 12:27). We all have weakness that just comes with being mortal; we get tired, we get hungry, we make mistakes, and we sin. The Savior promises us that His grace (or His power) is enough to help us through anything. But to access His power, we must humble ourselves and turn to Him, recognizing that we cannot do things on our own. This is not to say that we don’t have a responsibility to try our very best—for we do—but as we humble ourselves before Him and recognize our need for help, I know that He does enable us to do and be better. Whether in school or at home, in playing a sport or learning the piano, if you show humility and ask for His help, His grace is indeed sufficient to expand your capabilities. I hope you remember that whenever you are having a hard time or are frustrated with yourself for not doing something better.

               Speaking of the piano, I really like this analogy shared by Brother Brad Wilcox. He related the Savior’s grace to learning and practicing the piano: “Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher…. Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice, practice.” Each day we try to do our very best, to learn how to follow Jesus, not to repay Him for sacrificing for our sins but so that His power can lift us and enable us to become even better. And of course, we all make mistakes, and that’s okay. He continued, “‘But Brother Wilcox, don’t you realize how hard it is to practice? I’m just not very good at the piano. I hit a lot of wrong notes. It takes me forever to get it right.’ Now wait. Isn’t that all part of the learning process? When a young pianist hits a wrong note, we don’t say he is not worthy to keep practicing. We don’t expect him to be flawless. We just expect him to keep trying. Perfection may be his ultimate goal, but for now we can be content with progress in the right direction.” I hope you can learn that it is okay to “hit wrong notes” on the piano, and in life, to make mistakes. We all do each day. What is important is that we keep trying, we keep working to do better each day and asking for His help: we keep practicing. And eventually, if we don’t stop practicing, we can overcome all our weakness and imperfections. But that takes time, and the Savior only expects us to do the best we can each day. So be patient with yourself, and try to seek His help in whatever you are doing. 

Love,

Dad