'On Being Worthy'

I read an amazing conference talk by Elder Ashton the other day called 'On Being Worthy'. He starts of by talking about the meaning of the word worthy and the way we determine our worthiness. Often we are under the impression that we decide whether we are worthy or not. While that is true we are not the only ones who judge our worthiness. Elder Ashton states "We do not have to be hindered by self-Judgement. All of us have the benefit and added wisdom of a bishop and a stake president to help us determine our worthiness..." We are not alone, we have the wisdom of others to help us find our way.

Elder Ashton defines worthiness as "a process, and perfection is an eternal trek. We can be worthy to enjoy certain privileges without being perfect". Today in Relief Society we were talking about Temples and being worthy to enter the Temple. We came to the conclusion that as long as we are making an effort to be perfect we are worthy of the Temple and the blessings that come from visiting the Temple.

Sometimes I struggle with where I am in the gospel. I often feel that I am missing something because I judge my worthiness through comparison to others. I know that this is not wise and that it is a result of pride. Elder Ashton addresses this struggle in his talk.

"Perhaps we all live under some misconceptions when we look at each other on Sundays as we attend our meetings. Everyone is neatly dressed and greets each other with a smile. It is natural to assume that everyone else has his life under control and doesn't have to deal with dark little weaknesses and imperfections.

There is a natural, probably a mortal, tendency to compare ourselves with others. Unfortunately, when we make these comparisons, we tend to compare our weakest attributes with someone else's strongest. For example, a woman who feels unschooled in the gospel may take particular note of a woman in her ward who teaches the Gospel Doctrine class and seems to have every scripture at her fingertips. Obviously these kinds of comparisons are destructive and only reinforce the fear that somehow we don't measure up and therefore we must not be as worthy as the next person. 

We need to come to terms with our desire to reach perfection and our frustration when our accomplishments or behaviors are less than perfect. I feel that one of the great myths we would do well to dispel is that we've come to earth to perfect ourselves, and nothing short of that will do. If I understand the teachings of the prophets of this dispensation correctly, we will not become perfect in this life, though we can make significant strides toward that goal."

I have only addressed a few of the ideas from this talk but I would suggest that everyone go through and read this talk because I feel like is is something that everyone should hear.