On My Honor

My nephew is serving a mission in Santiago, Chile. We receive weekly e-mails from my sister-in-law. Today I felt impressed to share part of the current one.

This weeks email title comes from my years of Boy Scouts. We had interviews a few weeks  ago, and Sister Laycock informed me that I accidentally have made myself somewhat famous for bringing my Scout manual to the mission. Apparently someone emailed her asking to use the photo on the mission blog and my story as part of a presentation on the importance of Scouting.

"On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight, and to obey the Scout Law."

I've given a fair amount of thought to that over the past few weeks, and frankly that spirit encompasses a lot of what it means to live the Gospel. What it really comes down to is our honor - our word. Can we be trusted, or not? Can our friends, family, fellowmen, and even our God, trust us with what we've been given? Will we remember the promises we've made? Will we keep our word, or not? That's one of the biggest questions in this life, I think. Not that we need to necessarily find the answer for, but that we need to decide for ourselves, and stick with that decision for the rest of our lives.

And perhaps we're still terrible at communicating what we really think about things, and perhaps sometimes we don't remember everything we need to do in the day, and perhaps sometimes we're too impatient, too easily frustrated, too much of too many things. But at the end of the day, I feel like God doesn't look at all the things we weren't able to do, did wrong, and downright messed up, and say, "Well, you're useless. I'll go somewhere else." He says, "I'll make up the difference and set things aright. Because in spite of all your imperfections, I know your heart - I made it - and it is good." And, little by little, as we work with what He's given us that is good, those imperfections start to fade away into the past, and finally disappear. And all that's left is what's good.

If we put our hearts with God - with their Maker - where they need to be, all things will work out in the end to our good. We may not understand the ridiculous, unpleasant, and sometimes downright awful and bumpy ride that comes in the meantime in the exact moment, but at the end, looking back, we'll be able to see the journey and say, "That wasn't nearly as bad as it seemed, and the destination is so much better than I'd actually thought."

Everything's gonna be all right.

I don't think I was that wise when I was his age :)