I love biking. I love that the feeling it gives me, the challenge of conquering the hills, and then getting off my bike, barely being able to walk and realizing that I had a good workout. Lately I have been missing my bike routes in St. George. I never tired of them while I was there. Yet I was already bored of the trails here. Most of the rim trail is too sandy for good biking and the only other road long enough for a good road would be the main road in town, which would be a lot of stopping at stop lights- not what I wanted.
Friday after school, I sat doing lesson plans in my room. The janitor came in to vacuum and mentioned how warm it was outside. I looked at the clock. 4:30. Why am I still in here? I thought. I decided that my work would wait for me, but the warm weather probably wouldn't.
I went home, got on my bike and headed to a back road that I thought might connect me to the road that went out the reservation. I'm still not sure if it does, but I found what I was looking for. The road I took eventually turned into a dirt road from which there were several trails I could take. The scenery was amazing, which makes the bike ride that much better. The trail didn't have too many sandy spots.
I still have a lot of trails to explore out that way. I was out on my bike for about an hour and thoroughly enjoyed myself. But what makes me even happier is knowing that there's more out there.
As I was biking, my mind started to wander. I'm studying the book of Isaiah in my institute class, so the experience of taking Isaiah from Brother King was fresh in my mind.
Before I took Brother King's class I had gotten to a point where I felt like I understood most of the essential doctrines of the church. I was still trying to apply them all to my life because I wasn't perfect, but I felt like I knew the scriptures. I decided to take a class on Isaiah because I wanted to be in a class where at least some of the students would be closer to my age. Isaiah seemed like a class that would scare away most freshmen.
I didn't realize how much this class would teach me. Brother King taught us that the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. I thought I knew a lot, until I took the class. I studied the chapters before going, but always left class knowing I had missed so much in my study and I knew I hadn't even caught, much less understand, everything that had been taught.
Sometimes we think we've found everything that there is. I thought I had found all the good bike trails here. I thought I understood the scriptures pretty well. What I learned is that whenever we get to that point, it's time to look for new paths, new challenges. New classes, new bike trails, a new perspective. There will always be more to learn and to explore.

This semester at college I am taking my second semester of Latin. One thing I have learned from my study of Latin is the different tenses. There are six of them: Future, present, imperfect, perfect, future perfect, and pluperfect. Turns out, the perfect and imperfect are very similar. They are both past tense, and can technically be translated in the same way. However, there is one subtle difference: the imperfect tense implies something that was continuous in the past, while the perfect refers to something that is completed. For example: “He was sailing,” as opposed to “He sailed.” The first is an ongoing action, while the second is finished.

This makes me think of my life: As hard as I try to be perfect, I can never quite make it. I am imperfect, but that’s why I’m here. I’m imperfect because I’m living. If I were perfect it would mean that my life was complete. Finished. There would be no point to it. Because I am imperfect there is always something to work on, to strive towards. Something to learn, some way to grow. And that’s why life is such an adventure – because the learning never ends.

It’s not just people who are imperfect: life itself is inherently imperfect. Even nature, gorgeous as it is, has its imperfections. But it’s these imperfections that make it so beautiful, for without the bad we would not appreciate the good. It is the contrast between the two that makes the good so breathtaking.

So despite the difficulties they present, I am grateful for imperfections.

I’m even more grateful for the Atonement, because that’s what makes all my striving towards perfection worthwhile.