My wife and I pulled up from the gym the other day, and before we got out of the car, she said, “Cute Rachel, she’s not big enough to get the trash in the can.” I looked over and we started laughing. It was Rachel’s day for trash.

I thought how proud I was of our short little 7 year old for even trying.  Stacey has an awesome system going right now to get the kids chores going. Whatever she’s doing I’m not messing with. Even if it costs me money!!

Now, some parents would say this picture is a total failure. I mean look, the bag isn’t all the way in the big trash can, and an empty gallon of milk is on the driveway; the chore isn’t technically done, right?

Then a thought hit me harder. And it’s that so many of us, you and I, somehow think we need to be perfect in order to please our Heavenly Parents. So many truly believe that. That blessings only come when and if we’ve fulfilled 100% perfection in our “chores”. That God will only love us if we are perfectly obedient, all of the time.

There was a point in my life when I actually believed this. And when I would inevitably screw up in the day, I would beat myself up so bad. It was mentally and spiritually exhausting and unhealthy.

But I came to learn something through parenting my own kids.

When God looks down and sees His children just thinking about trying to follow Him, He is smiling. Now can we be better? Always. Does He want us to become better? Absolutely. But why beat ourselves up in the process of becoming? It’s all line upon line. The truth is, God smiles with ANY effort we put in for the Housework here on Earth and in Heaven, even if it’s messy. Just like Stacey and I smiled to see that mess of Rachel’s yesterday. I testify it’s true.

We don’t earn His love, it’s already there.

My wife recently got this picture for me to put on my nightstand. I love waking up to it as a daily reminder of where to turn. She knows when I’m drowning, and knows Who to turn to for help.

The older I get the more I realize how much help I need each day from heaven. And I mean true help. The more I realize how weak I am. And the more I realize how perfect I’m not. That I’ve been trying to do so much on my own. It’s a trap I fall into to do it all on my own.

Some would say it’s a weakness to realize we are weak. And if you focus on your weakness, it will only make you more weak. Maybe that’s true in a sense if you just put yourself down. But maybe realizing we are weak, and where our weaknesses are, is the key and prerequisite to be ready to actually learn and grow from and in Him. Not grow in the world. “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;” 1 Cor 1:27

I feel because we have it so easy (especially in America) that we inevitably don’t rely on Him for help. It’s too easy to get food, clothes, and shelter. Because all around us is better food, nicer clothes, and bigger homes, etc. The things of the world become our goals. And because of the easiness, we don’t realize how far we can go off track spiritually, until we smack up against a rock of reality. At least this seems to be the pattern that happens with me. I’ll go, then smack. And it hurts.

I believe if we humble ourselves each day and ask for help, true help, God will show us what we can do -whether it’s repentance, or service, or both- and through that process we will find the strength and power beyond our own to keep going with actual peace. Not a fake peace we are so used to. But actual peace and joy and rest, even in harsh realities.

God gives us weaknesses so that we can be humble. And I’ve learned that just when you think you’ve overcome one weakness, He will give you another; or if not give you one, simply SHOW us the next one we had no idea we had in the first place. And it can be gut wrenching.

Sometimes when we find out how weak we really are, we want to just surrender and give up. That’s what the devil wants. He wants to have us isolated so we can surrender our choices to him and his minions to take over our spirts, to sink in the troubled waters. This is his pattern. Get us to sin a little here and a little there, and feel the fake rush, then, leave us alone and start pounding our minds and hearts with the guilt from the very thing he wanted us to partake in. Think of that irony. We hand him the tools he beats us with. And the stronger the sin, the harder he hits.

Now with God, He wants us to give it all to Him; so He can help us, not bash us. Even the ugliest and most repulsive sides of us. He wants to fix those ugly things in us. Because the truth is, He’s already bled and died for the ugliest and most repulsive in each one of us. That’s part of why He came. To pay that price for what we have done, and sadly, what we will do in the future.

So if we are going to surrender and give up in life, why not surrender and give up our lives to God? Besides is there any other way to true peace and rest? Instead of turning to addiction to addiction, gossip to gossip, news to news, game to game, phone app to phone app…. why not turn to Him? This has always been my daily struggle. Surrendering to Him each day to do His will. Not just on Sunday.

Neal A. Maxwell once said, “Being such a premier virtue, submissiveness is not to be mastered in a moment, once and for all. Hence the need for patience on the part of those of us who, while falling short of keeping all the Lords Commandments, truly “seeketh so to do”.

Underneath our rationalizations, usually, is a deep destitution enclosed in profound pride. Pride, at its core, involves a measure of self-worship, however mild. After all, we are to “have no other God” before the real God, including self pleasing and self-worship. If we are really keeping the first commandment, we will worship him sufficiently to want to be more and more like Him.”

And last, and the answer, Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt 11: 28-30