Instead of the usual opening song being the only musical performance at BYU-Hawaii’s weekly devotional, as Anna Mooy, the assistant professor of music closed her remarks, she sang the hymn, “O Love That Glorifies the Son” to close her remarks.
Sister Mooy spoke on Tuesday, Feb. 22 and titled her talk, “Living a Life of Joy: Making Peace with Our Quest for Perfection."
Sister Mooy posed the question, “Can joy and perfection exist simultaneously in this life?” To understand what joy and perfection means to students she asked many of her students to define the words. Some of their responses for joy included “happiness, family, no worries and righteousness.” Some of the responses for perfection were “Christ, difficult, stress, achievement.”
“So perfection is a pretty tall order. Joy feels much more attainable. I’d like to explore some thoughts that will hopefully provide a reconciliation between these two ideas, and would like to suggest that they can indeed be experienced simultaneously in this mortal world,” said Sister Mooy.
She continued, “What is it about this word that can create such a feeling of conflict with regard to our personal worthiness? I believe that our spirit understands that both joy and perfection are possible in this life. One of the great differences between the two are that 1) Joy is a feeling, and 2) Perfection is an attribute. Joy is easily identified, and perfection is more a matter of perception.”
She quoted Elder Russell M. Nelson when he said, “When comparing one’s personal performance with the supreme standard of the Lord’s expectation, the reality of imperfection can at times be depressing. My heart goes out to conscientious Saints who, because of their shortcomings, allow feelings of depression to rob them of happiness in life.
We all need to remember: men are that they might have joy—not guilt trips!”
Sister Mooy also pointed out, “The scriptures admonish us to 'Be ye therefore perfect...' They imply perfection as a state of being. If ‘being’ perfect meant that we did everything perfectly, there would be no need for our mortal experience, and no real opportunity for progression. Being perfect is a different thing from ‘doing’ perfectly.”
She shared the example of Jean Valjean from the musical, “Les Miserable,” who turned his life around by recognizing who he truly was.
“We are literal spiritual offspring of the Father. He knows who we are and sees our spirits as whole and perfect. When we don’t believe this about ourselves, we begin to act in ways that distract us from our truth. When we recognize more about ourselves in relationship to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we are more inclined to love ourselves and follow their example, in loving as they loved, and in viewing others as They do…This involves aligning and attuning ourselves to the love of Christ,” said Siser Mooy.
“Joy is the highest vibratory word in the English language. Love is very high as well. However, while joy is in the eyes of the beholder, love is easily and freely given as an exchange of energy. What would happen if just for one day here on this campus we made the decision to love ourselves and others freely and unconditionally? To see in ourselves and in each other the face of Christ? That would be what I would call heaven on earth. A sublimely perfect and joyous experience,” she said.
Sister Mooy finished by singing “O Love That Glorifies the Son,” a hymn she was inspired to sing after September 11, 2001.
Photo by Meimei Yin