Spiritual Benchmarks

I found a great picture for this post, but it is copyrighted. You can see it here. (You might have to right click on the link to open it.)

Paraphrasing and expounding on a point made in the Relief Society lesson the week before Christmas: There are spiritual benchmarks that we reach. [Another word for benchmark is milestone.] Often, as we are approaching the pinnacle of our efforts, we begin to doubt our abilities. We get discouraged when we look at others and feel that they are "higher up" on their peaks than we are. We wonder why we haven't met the benchmark that others seem to have already mastered. "Perhaps there is something wrong with me," we might think to ourselves.

But there is nothing wrong. Everyone has to experience the pain of growth as we approach our individual spiritual benchmarks. None of us is allowed to fly over the obstacles on the mountain. The pain we are feeling is evidence that we are on the right path.