Small and Simple Things

In his talk One Percent Better, Elder Michael Dunn encouraged us to work to make small and steady spiritual improvements in our lives. He used the example of a cycling coach Sir Dave Brailsford who helped the Great Britain team through a philosophy of “the aggregation of marginal gains” where he sought to make very small improvements to lots of areas. Brailsford described his method this way: “The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1 percent, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.” Elder Dunn suggested that for us to do the same in spiritual matters, we must have a “consistent, day-in and day-out effort” to improve ourselves. He quoted President Nelson who taught of this need for daily self-improvement: “Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind. When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” As we seek to repent daily, or in other words to improve ourselves daily, the Savior will help us to truly change as we grow more like Him.

                This idea reminds me of the attitude of Abraham expressed when he was in the land of the Chaldeans and realized he needed “another place of residence.” He described his feelings this way: “finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers” (Abraham 1:2). Abraham was at this point a “follower of righteousness” and yet he wasn’t satisfied with remaining at his level of spirituality. He wanted to to be a greater follower of righteousness and to have greater knowledge than he had. Surely this should be our attitude in spiritual matters as well—no matter where we are at, there is room for us to be more righteous and gain more knowledge.

                This also reminds me of the story told in the book “The Daffodil Principle” by Jaroldeen Edwards. This author recounted how one day she visited a daffodil garden in Lake Arrowhead, California at the request of her daughter. She recorded, “We turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes . . . There were five acres of flowers.” At the place there was a house with a poster titled “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking” which had the following statements: “50,000 bulbs”, “One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain”, and “Began in 1958”. In other words, the five acres of daffodils had been planted by a woman one bulb at a time, day after day and year after year until five acres of the mountainside was covered in daffodils. She had clearly followed this principle of “one percent better” as thousands and thousands of small actions eventually blossomed into something truly incredible.

                In his talk Elder Dunn also quoted Elder Bednar who summed up this idea this way: “Small, steady, incremental spiritual improvements are the steps the Lord would have us take. Preparing to walk guiltless before God is one of the primary purposes of mortality and the pursuit of a lifetime; it does not result from sporadic spurts of intense spiritual activity.” In this time of new beginnings we have the opportunity to find ways to implement in our own lives small improvements, which, if persisted over time, will indeed become great accomplishments in our lives. The Savior Himself “received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:13). We each have a long way to go to receive a fullness of the glory of God, but as we strive to follow the Savior we can likewise go from grace to grace with “small, stead, incremental spiritual improvements” every day. And as we do so we will prove to ourselves the truth of Alma’s statement: “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass” (Alma 37:6).