Do Your Best

Dear Family,

I hope you have a good week ahead of you.  Today’s message is about doing our best.  May we focus our efforts on improving ourselves.  It is not needful to compare ourselves to others around us.  We are each navigating our own spiritual journey.  I pray that you will turn to the Savior for guidance.  He truly is waiting to assist you.  He loves you and wants what is best for you.

Love you so much

DaD

Do Your Best

Do your best, be good, work hard." Each morning, those words cheerfully rang out from a young mother as she sent her children to school. And, year after year, those same words of encouragement continued. That motto of sorts has now passed to a second generation as her children send their children to school with the same refrain.

"Do your best, be good, work hard." This common-sense slogan echoes, in slightly different words, from the pages of The Agony and the Ecstasy, Irving Stone's classic novel about sculptor and artist Michelangelo. The talented, young Michelangelo sought advice from his spiritual leader one day and received this counsel: "Do the best that is in you, or nothing at all. There is only a God-given numbers of years in which to work and fulfill yourself. Don't squander them." When he died many decades later, Michelangelo had, indeed, become one of the most prolific artists of all time. And it was Michelangelo's contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci, who cried out: "O Lord, thou givest us everything at the price of an effort." 

No matter what our level of talent, education, or experience, we can still "do our best"—within the realm of our capability. In so doing, we need only be concerned with getting ahead of ourselves, not others. Perhaps the Lord also would counsel: "Do your best, be good, work hard."

At times, however, we fail. But, as long as our effort was honest, diligent, and to the best of our ability, it cannot be considered a failure. After all, as the old saying goes, the way to succeed is to double your failure rate. For instance, in the same year Babe Ruth set a major league baseball record for home runs, he also set a record for strike-outs.

Of course, that young mother's admonition to "be good" is no less important than her call to "do your best" and "work hard." For, undoubtedly, God is interested—first and foremost—in how well we obey His commandments. As author Victor Hugo once suggested, "Good actions are the invisible hinges on the doors of heaven." 

One of Christianity's beloved hymns asks, "Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need? Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad? If not, I have failed indeed." 

As we begin each day, let us then pause and consider the words of encouragement offered by a wise, young mother to "do your best, be good, and work hard." 

May Peace be with You  Messages from "The Spoken Word"