"...for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do". (2 Nephi 25:23)

Some days are just better than others. And some days you wake up with a kink in your neck, you lose your wedding ring, one of your sweet children refuses to do what is asked and totally freaks out on you, your garage door breaks and you can't get your car out of the garage, your dryer doesn't dry the clothes...I could go on, but you get the idea. Gratefully, "...it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23) because each day our best is different, but we still try to do our best.

God didn't send us here to return to Him the same or worse than we left Him. He sent us here to become something more through obedience to His commandments (see Exodus 16:4; Abraham 3:25). The awesome thing is that we are "agents unto [our]selves", (Moses 6:56) meaning, we are in charge of how we behave, think, and act. So, on our other than better days, and every day for that matter, we can decide how we are going to act or react to the situation at hand. The beauty is that we are told what we need to know and how to behave: "...add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:5-8). If these are in us then we will have knowledge of our Savior, and as we come to know Him better, we are becoming more than we were when we left our heavenly home at birth.

Every day is different, and therefore, every day brings a different "best" or a different "all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23). That is one reason why we need and have grace. Grace is "divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ" (Bible Dictionary). Just as we learn about Jesus Christ a little at a time, and learn "line upon line...here a little and there a little" (2 Nephi 28:30) we also receive "grace for grace" (John 1:16; see also D&C 93:12, 20)."The phrase 'grace for grace' suggests an exchange. For example, as we seek to serve others, repent, and do other good works, the Lord gives us spiritual strength and power to improve in exchange for our efforts. 'Grace for grace' also implies a developmental process." For each grace (or divine means of help and/or strength) we receive and worthily use, we receive another grace (or divine means of help and/or strength) in our progress toward perfection" (B.O.M. Teacher Manuel). We grow stronger as we seek the Lord's help and try to become like Him, as He has asked us to "be ye holy" (see 1 Peter 1:16). We can do this because "with God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37)!

What a blessing that each day is different and we get to experience (see D&C 105:10) for ourselves "to know good from evil" (Moses 6:56). We become more than what we thought we could be through the challenges of each day as we do our best, and let Him do the rest.This I testify.

P.S. I found my wedding ring!