My cousin and her husband stopped in this weekend to use our home as a sleeping place for a couple of nights while visiting their son at college a half hour from here. We got some precious moments to talk (I always cherish those!). She showed me some videos of her kids’ music, then showed me her son’s best friend, a refugee, who has picked up music since coming to the states. His talent is remarkable. She said, “He’ll practice a single measure hundreds of times, then move on to the next one, until he’s mastered the song.” When I say his talent is remarkable, that’s an understatement.
I have a picture book sitting on a shelf in my living room. I was introduced to it when I was in school a couple of years ago, in a children’s lit class. It’s called “The Book of Mistakes.” I keep it out, not just for kids who come by, but for myself to look at regularly. It’s a fantastic, visually poetic reminder of the value of mistakes.
In the Doctrine and Covenants, section 29 and verse 34, Jesus Christ revealed to the prophet, Joseph Smith: “Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal …”
*I hope you can follow my wandering mind, because I promise, it all comes together*
There’s another great book, The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle (I’ve mentioned this before). Part of the subtitle is “Greatness isn’t born. It’s grown.” He and his team of scientists explored talent hot beds to find out how so much greatness (whether it’s a sport, an art, a science) can come from one distinct area/time. They found that one person achieving greatness in an area encourages others to effort. They further found that it is in the making of mistakes and then trying again … and again and again and again ad infinitum … that greatness is achieved. The mistake leads to trying which creates a stronger myelin sheath around a specific nerve, until finally, the individual doesn’t even need to think about the effort. What he/she is trying to achieve is instantaneous – whether that’s playing a song on the piano or connecting her foot to a soccer ball. Physiologically, individuals become great at *something* by making mistakes and then trying again. They become different.
There are lots of wonderful reasons for mortality. I believe they all add up to one great reason: Mortal experiences create an environment for our becoming.
My cousin and I also talked about a regret she had. She’d reacted to a circumstance in a way that created negative results and she wasn’t happy about it. “The strange thing,” she said, “is that I’m actually intentionally working on this already! And then I blew it.”
The way I understand life right now is that her mistake is fortuitous. Sure, she could react exactly how she desires every time, but that won’t create change. It will just mean that she’s doing the right thing. Change (or becoming) happens when we make a mistake and then try again.
At my mother’s funeral a few years ago my brother said something that has created a change in me: “Doing without becoming is an exercise in futility and makes us think that we are in control of our own salvation.”
My purpose is to become. That will happen as I make mistakes, take them to the Savior, claim the healing and enabling power of His atonement, and try again.
I am in awe of God’s perfect, natural plan for our growth and happiness. I love learning bits and pieces about how He abides by and uses natural laws for our happiness and for our becoming. I know He doesn’t withhold any good thing from us … we claim those things as we become a person who desires and works to claim them. That includes being ok with, and even grateful for, honest mistakes.
I am Yellow 