Editing Your Life to Become More Christ-like

“Each of us can do a little better than we have been doing. We can be a little more kind. We can be a little more merciful. We can be a little more forgiving. We can put behind us our weaknesses of the past, and go forth with new energy and increased resolution to improve the world about us, in our homes, in our places of employment, in our social activities.” (Gordon B. Hinckley)

Have you written a text or recorded a voice message and felt that you needed to erase and rewrite it or rerecord it? I think that this has happened to most of us. To be honest, it happens to me every day. Technology is a great tool that allows us to redo what we think we did wrong and correct it; this is the blessing of editing. Can you imagine what would happen if you were not able to review what you write and correct it? We apply this same process in our lives every day when we realize there is something we can improve to become a better version of ourselves.

Since I was a child, I wanted to learn how to draw. I always drew anime or cartoon characters that I liked, and sometimes I felt very proud of my results. However, when I tried to draw people’s faces, they did not look alike. So, I decided to take realistic drawing classes. I remember that on the first day, our teacher asked us to draw some people. I was supposed to draw two famous people of different genders. I put all my effort and a long time to show my talent. When I finished what I thought was my best drawing, they did not look alike; to be honest, they did not look human. After that class, our teacher asked us to start drawing simple things, but he did not let us use an eraser to correct mistakes. He said that when you draw, you are not supposed to use the eraser to correct your errors; you are supposed to use it only to highlight details. He taught us different principles we could use to edit our work and make it look better every time. After two complete semesters of mistakes and redoing our work, I finally could draw faces with details that made them look similar to the real person.

Editing was not always using the eraser because I traced the wrong line. Many times, I used editing to make something look good, so it could look even better. Living the Gospel is a similar process; we learn principles that can help us improve our lives and highlight those attributes we already have. This does not mean that when you make a mistake, you are not supposed to change. It means that when you do something wrong, you can reshape your life by following the principles of the gospel and improve what went wrong. On the other hand, I also think that even when you think you are doing everything alright, there is always something to improve. Similar to drawing, you can use the eraser not only to fix mistakes, but also to make things that you are doing well to become better. Living the principles of the gospel can highlight the attributes that make you more like Jesus Christ.