Do I measure up?

I feel guilty. Today, like most days, I have found myself feeling guilty for so many things.

- Remembering my speeding ticket from last week and agonizing over the $ I will need to pay.
- I was too tired to run today, so I walked instead.
- We went slightly over our budget last month.
- I lost patience with my kids and overreacted to a small mess.
- While running errands stopped and grabbed In and Out for lunch although I made a goal to try and not eat out when it is not necessary or for a good reason (this to save calories/money)
- Finished the last 1/3 of Caden's chocolate milkshake.
- It is almost 4:30 and I still haven't opened my scriptures or really got dressed for the day.
- Have yet to visit a good friend and new baby...I have been wanting to do this for 7 weeks.

Silly huh? Why on earth would I let guilt nag at me for such trivial things? I don't know, but it does...everyday. It got me thinking about where those thoughts and feelings come from. Most definitely not from our loving Heavenly Father. My dad always tells me to "save guilt for sin". I am pretty sure the Lord is not going to care if I finished Caden's milkshake. Why does the adversary use guilt as his weapon? Because it works with so many of us.

Feeling guilty about the dumbest things can put me in the worst mood which distracts me from what my real goals and purpose should be that day. It makes me feel like I don't measure up to others that appear to have it all together. It makes me feel that it is impossible to do everything perfectly and that I won't make it back to live with God and my family. It makes me feel like a bad mom/wife. It makes me feel like I am not enough.

I remembered a talk I heard years ago, my sophomore year at BYU. I read it again today and I wanted to share pieces of it that are so important, at least for me, to remember.

"Sometimes we feel very inadequate when we compare ourselves to others. We may even begin to despair. But when the Lord looks at us, he measures us against ourselves. His expectations are based on our abilities. He simply asks, Are you doing all that you can do at this time?

We want to be with our Father in Heaven. But no matter how hard we try, we come up short. At some point all of us must realize, “I can’t do this by myself. I need help.” Then it is that the Savior says, in effect, All right, you’re not perfect. But what can you do? Give me all you have, and I’ll do the rest.

He still requires our best effort. We must keep trying. But the good news is that having done all we can, it is enough. We may not be personally perfect yet, but because of our covenant with the Savior, we can rely on his perfection, and his perfection will get us through." (Stephen E. Robinson, Believing in Christ)

If you are like me, stop worrying and feeling guilty over the little things. And when it comes to the stuff that really matters, remember we are not expected to do this on our own. How comforting to know that through the Atonement, Christ can and will complete us if we have done all that we can and "in him" we will be "perfected" and "enough".