Nobody's Perfect

Nobody is perfect.  Read that last sentence again, but this time imagine that Nobody is the name of a person.  Now with that in mind read the following paraphrased version of a poem by Charles Osgood:

Everybody,  Somebody,  Anybody and Nobody were at work one day when an important task came up.  This task was something that Everybody should have done, but Everybody assumed Somebody would do it.  Anybody could have done it, but he also assumed that Somebody would do it.  That made Somebody mad because it was Everyone's job, and in the end Nobody ended up doing what Everybody should have done.

This fable is usually used to illustrate the importance of taking responsibility, but it also illustrates an important trait about Nobody.  Nobody is perfect.   He is always willing to do the tasks that we leave undone.  But we on the other hand are far from perfect.   So why is it that we are unwilling to allow others to be imperfect? Why do we get frustrated when we uncover an imperfect trait in someone else, or even in ourselves?

The ability to allow imperfection is something we should all strive to perfect in ourselves.  One of the keys to a successful partnership, whether it be marriage, your children, coworkers, is being able to look past their faults and love them anyways.  It's one thing to have high expectations for someone.  It's something else entirely when you start judging them based on how they are meeting those expectations.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not advocating that we all lower our expectations for others and stop trying to improve.  What is needed is more patience and recognition of effort and less focus on results.  The Savior gave us a great pattern for this in the 103rd Section of the Doctrine and Covenants.  The Saints living in Jackson County, Missouri at that time had been persecuted and the Lord commanded Parley Pratt and Lyman Wight to organize a group of men, later known as Zion's Camp, to go to their aid.  The manner in which the Lord gave the instructions is interesting:

30 It is my will that my servant Parley P. Pratt and my servant Lyman Wight should not return to the land of their brethren until they have obtained companies to go up unto the land of Zion, by tens, or by twenties, or by fifties, or by an hundred, until they have obtained to the number of five hundred of the strength of my house. 
31 Behold this is my will; ask and ye shall receive; but men do not always do my will 
32 Therefore, if you cannot obtain five hundred, seek diligently that peradventure you may obtain three hundred. 
33 And if ye cannot obtain three hundred, seek diligently that peradventure ye may obtain one hundred.

I think of what the Ten Commandments would look like if they followed that pattern:
Thou shalt honor they father and mother.  But if ye cannot honor them then seek diligently that ye are at least nice to them.

It's not that the Lord did not have high expectations of them.  Quite the opposite.  But his words in verse 31 tell us a little about how we should treat others.  He realized that people do not always do exactly as they should.  That's an important thing to recognize in others and in ourselves.  We're not perfect.  But just like Parley Pratt and Lyman Wight, we can try our best to find 500 men.  And if we can't get that, then we try our best to get to 300.  And if we can't get there either, then we try our best to get 100.

The point is that we always try our best and realized that others are trying their best as well.  Listen to the following council given to Lyman Wight in the 108th section:

1 Verily thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Lyman: Your sins are forgiven you, because you have obeyed my voice in coming up hither this morning to receive council of him whom I have appointed. 
2 Therefore, let your soul be at rest concerning your spiritual standing, and resist no more my voice
3 And arise and be more careful henceforth in observing your vows, which you have made and do make, and you shall be blessed with exceeding great blessings.
I love the phrase "be more careful henceforth".  That's really what life is all about.  We all make mistakes and we all fall short of the mark, but because of the Savior and his Atonement we have the opportunity to repent and be a little more careful the next time.

Nobody is perfect and if we follow this pattern, we can become perfect too.

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