I had a kindergarten student this year who is learning how to read. She has been working so hard, but sometimes it's tempting to give up when every word is a struggle. The new word that was tripping her up one day was "did". She would sound it out and eventually figure it out, but when it cropped up again on another page, she had to start all over and she was tired of it. She finally asked me, "Can I skip that word?" I laughed and told her, no, she can't skip that word. After a few lessons, she got quite good at reading the word "did", but then we started with both "who" and "what" not long after. These are both much harder, but just as important to know. 

I frequently have students who hate when I correct their reading. I always expect them to go back and read it correctly so they are more likely to get it right next time they see it. But sometimes they push back. It's annoying that I'm so bossy and don't just let them finish the book already. I explain that I'm getting paid to do my job and if I let kids read the words wrong without fixing them, I'm not doing my job. What would the principal think if I don't really teach kids to read correctly? 

How often do we feel stuck in our trials and ask the Lord if we can just skip that trial? Or we feel repentance is punitive, that someone is bossy or annoying to ask us to fix our mistakes.  Fortunately, we don't send our kids to an empty school and expect them to figure out how to read. We send them to teachers who already know how to read, who will help them go back and fix their mistakes. You know the pay off for teaching kids to read? When they get the glimmer in their eyes as they read with confidence and recognize that it used to be too hard for them. That's my favorite part! 

Our Savior already knows how to live and He's ready to help us go back and fix our mistakes. It's not about controlling, bossing, or punishing. It's about helping us learn all we can and then moving on to more lessons we need to learn. He loves seeing the glimmer in our eyes when we grow. He doesn't get mad when we make mistakes, just like I don't get mad at my early readers. Repentance isn't the backup plan. Repentance is THE plan.