I was recently diagnosed with ADHD at 34 years old.
This came a shock to me since my older brother was diagnosed a few years ago and I couldn’t possibly be like HIM.
What I have learned is that ADHD looks much different for each person and especially different in girls.
As I have explored the different youtube channels, tik toks, and facebook reels, one major theme keeps reoccuring… the guilt and shame that comes from not being perfect or even “normal. ” We jump from task to task, hobby to hobby, job to job, and for some reason feel shame for doing so. The executive function paralysis takes over and our self-esteem plummets as we compare ourselves to other well-adjusted, functioning people.
Our self-worth seems to be tied to how much we can do and how well we can do it. What if we could believe at our core that our self-worth never changes? We are always worthy of love and redemption. Our Savior has paid the price for us and that determines our worth. It was His price… He paid… equaling our worth.
While he may have requested certain commandments in return to show our gratitude (Love God, Our Neighbor, have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, etc.), he never expected us to be perfect in this life!
The evidence is in the scriptures and the Greek words used in the King James version translation. When Christ speaks the “Be ye therefore perfect” phrase, he is not referring to precision of human effort. Rather in this instance the Greek word used here was Teleios meaning “Complete, Fully Developed, Finished.” So teleios does not imply freedom from error, but achieving a distant objective.
“The perfection that the Savior envisions for us is much more than errorless performance,” said President Russell M. Nelson (then Elder Nelson) in the October General Conference of 1995. The intercessory prayer highlighted Christ’s desires for us.
- To be made perfect in one (Atonement)
- Be with Him in glory
The Lord’s work and glory pertains to immortality and eternal life of man. “Eternal perfection is reserved for those who overcome all things and inherit the fulness of the Father in his heavenly mansions.” We see teleios used again in Ephesians 4:12-13- the church is for the perfecting of the saints… unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” The perfect man – the completed person – is the glorified soul.
Christ’s standards may seem impractically high, but when pursued, they produce inner peace and incomparable joy.
(Excerpts taken from Pres. Nelson’s talk may not be quoted.)
Be Ye Therefore Perfect(ed) 