My father is going to disown me for saying that.
He loves Yoda and thinks he's brilliant. Probably because he is. He is a master of emotion and force, knowledge and will. Aside from the Clone Wars where he, uncharacteristically and in poor CGI form, fought from a place of rage, he was typically spot on with the nuggets of wisdom he handed out.
I've heard one of his most famous quotes tossed around for years:"Do or do not. There is no try."
It's usually accompanied by a motivational speech about never giving up, putting forth your full effort, or succeeding at all cost. Here's a hard thing. Now do it. Don't try. Don't fail. Just do it.
That's a lot of pressure.
I really don't like these interpretations of this quote. I get the whole, "do or do not". Indecisiveness is not a strength. Do it or don't. Hot or cold. Make up your mind. God doesn't like it either. "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold or hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:16)
So yeah, I get the "do or do not part."
The part that I cringe at is the "there is no try." What the wha?
Of course there is a try.
MY ENTIRE LIFE IS ONE BIG TRY.
Even when I do or do not, my TRY matters.
"With the gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the strength of heaven to help us, we can improve, and the great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don't always succeed."
Oh, sweet relief. Because I don't always succeed or do. In fact, if I'm being honest, I unsucceed more than I succeed. (Failure is such a negative word. I've decided to nix it from my vocabulary. That and kale.)
I understand that Yoda most likely meant that you should go into a scenario with confidence, with the intent of succeeding. That it was probably more about the mindset rather than the outcome. I'm sure he was trying to teach whiny Luke that our attitude can determine our altitude (that sounds like an Elder Uchtdorf analogy...)
Still. I wish Yoda would have had said something different Why couldn't he have said, "Try or try not. You, it's up to."
That's what it boils down to, for me. Am I willing to try? And try? And try?
Because IF I am, then it counts.
I want my tries to count.
Perhaps Yoda wasn't lying, but was simply misunderstood. I think a new meme should clear things up. Because if it's in a meme, then it's true.
I love that I get credit for trying.
Yoda and Elder Holland are on same page as the Amulek. (It's a good page to be on.) When teaching the Zoramites, a rebellious and prideful bunch, he said, "I would that ye would come forth and not harden your hearts any longer. . . therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you."
There are so many things I love about this verse. I love that Amulek let's them know that
1- It's their responsibility. It's up to them to come forth and harden their hearts.
2- Just by trying, IMMEDIATELY the Atonements begins to work in their lives.
He didn't say, "after three weeks of perfect performance, you'll be blessed." No, he said immediately.
The Zoramites got credit for simply trying to have a softer heart and repent allows the great plan of redemption to affect them.
And so do we.
The theory that we get credit for trying (and do I really need to specify that it is trying to do GOOD things with GOOD and HONEST intent?) is pleasing to me.
If perfections was achieved by perfect performance, I'd be in petrouble.
I'm the first to admit that I am faaaaaaaaaaar from perfect and never will be perfect, not in this life. I will never do that. If my only choice was to "do" perfect I would epically fail. But, I don't have to give up and "do not" perfect. I simply have to try.
And not even try to be perfect. According to Amulek, I simply have to try to have a soft heart and repent. That's what trying is.
Trying is the direction we face, a step we take, a choice of light over darkness, and the getting up after we fall down.
Trying is hope and kindness and love.
Trying is choosing to grow rather than wilt.
Trying is choosing is casting your eyes on Him.
Trying is our perfect desire in imperfect action.
Trying is the reflection of the contents of our hear.
Trying is the way we get to and become like God.
Trying is everything.
I love that we can try and try again. And then try and try again.
As long as I try to keep on trying, I'm going to make it, if we want to.
So, Yoda, I get what you're sayin. I'm gonna do. I won't do not. But, in the mean time, there have been and will be about a million tries to get me there.
And every single one of them counts.
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