Nobody is perfect!

Relief Society presidents can be rude. Bosses can be inconsistent. Friends can be selfish. Spouses can be forgetful.

Prophets can have terrible writing or speaking skills.

It’s all normal.

In church, we like to say, “Nobody’s perfect”.

We say it matter-of-fact, throw it into every lesson and talk, and sometimes even chuckle while we say it.

But then we have to actually interact with each other.

And those imperfections can become roadblocks ranging from frustrating to full-on impossible to work with.

This is life.

But Moroni reminds us of the important element to dealing with imperfections in other people:

We are not to CONDEMN others because of their imperfections.

I also read this as not nitpicking or defining others as their imperfections.

Have we labeled other people by their weakness as a way to subtly put them down?

The annoying neighbor, the socially-awkward Bishop, the selfish child…

Or we do we refuse to “define… [people] by the worst thing [they’ve] ever done”? (Kevin R. Duncan)

We talk about the neighbor who is always ready to have a conversation, and is filled with a heart for service.

We talk about the Bishop who is really good at bringing the Spirit when he speaks, and who probably makes close ties with the people he speaks with one-on-one.

We talk about the child who is learning letters, improving in eating, and loves playing with her blocks.

We have imperfections. We know this.

We will naturally notice imperfections of the people we interact with.

But what Moroni pleads with us (TWICE) to avoid is discovering those imperfections, and then using them to condemn and define other people.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black