When I was a child, I enjoyed working on projects with my dad and uncles. Inevitably, an errant swing of the hammer or misstep in the garden would result in an aching thumb or sprained ankle. The answer from my dad and uncles was usually the same: “Be tough.”
The same phrase carried over into sports and outdoor activities as a teenager. It carried over again as I served a mission. And it carried over again when I was in college. As an adult, I try to be a bit more nuanced with my own children, nieces and nephews.
A few weeks ago, however, I found myself trying to be tough through some pain that emerged in my eye the week before general conference. That’s not the ideal week to step away from working at Church News. I determined that I just needed to make it to the Monday after conference, and I’d be fine.
But when I shared my story of wanting to tough it out with the emergency room doctor on Saturday morning, he didn’t think I had made the right choice. And instead of helping my team on one of our busiest weekends of the year, I was relegated to a dark bedroom with a regimen of eye drops, no screens and a pair of not-so-stylish sunglasses.
That’s not what I had planned, and it added additional responsibilities on my team and family that they didn’t ask for or want.
On Monday morning, I visited the eye doctor, and he gave me a stern lecture. He explained that if I had succeeded in my plan to wait until that day to seek medical attention, I would have likely lost the sight in my affected eye.
Whoa.
We walked through a series of steps he had preferred I take to avoid this happening again and to keep me far away from that blinding outcome in the future.
The experience reminded me of the words I heard as I listened to general conference on Saturday morning, two days prior.
Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke about the Savior’s power to forgive and His desire to help us avoid sin in the first place in his message, "Because of Jesus Christ."
“Jesus Christ has both the power and the desire to save us from our sins. Because of Jesus Christ, when we repent and follow Him, ‘immediately [will] the great plan of redemption be brought about unto [us]’ (Alma 34:31). The Redeemer suffered the punishment for everyone’s sins, transgressions and mistakes. He can and will declare guiltless all who believe on His name, repent, follow the covenant path and strive to endure to the end. ‘All mankind may be saved’ (Articles of Faith 1:3) because of Him and His atoning sacrifice. All means everyone. If everyone, then anyone. If anyone, then even one. And if even one, then even you,” Elder Renlund said.
Sometimes the imaginary lines between different virtues are self-imposed instead of Spirit-guided.
In my case, I stuck to something I had heard repeated to me a million times growing up. I was determined to be tough when I needed to be humble. My “I can do it” determination nearly turned into a life-changing mistake.
Medically, I am thankful for the hospital, doctor and medicine that met the immediate needs of my ailment. And I’m grateful for the medical care that will help me recover completely and avoid this challenge in the future.
Spiritually, I am thankful for a Savior who offers immediate relief and eternal forgiveness when we repent and get on the path to follow Him. And I’m thankful for the Holy Ghost and prophets who help me avoid sin in the future.
I know I have sometimes committed a sin and decided to tough out the consequences of it. But no amount of rugged determination will allow any of us to pay the price of our own sins. Only a perfect being could pay that price. Only Jesus will ever accomplish that feat.
Being tough and persistent has its place. The scriptures are replete with examples of followers of Christ who were tough, strong and resilient. And many of those same stories show how humility and repentance in Christ’s name helped them use that strength and resilience matched with a humble attitude to feel and follow the Spirit back to the Lord’s presence.
Like Elder Renlund said, if that opportunity is available to all, that means it is available to you.
— Jon Ryan Jensen is editor of the Church News.
