Lesson learned: It's okay to not completely understand

Last week, I taught my students how to tell time. This is one of my favorite things to teach because, in just one week, I'm able to open up a whole new part of the world to them that they couldn't access before. It always astounds me, though, how tricky time is to understand. 

For the first few days, I had a lot of blank stares and I-don't-get-its and confusion. But by the end of the week, pretty much everyone was able to tell time to the hour and the half hour. Interestingly though, even though a lot of them can tell time now, many of them still don't quite understand how it all works. They don't quite understand why there are 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute and 24 hours in a day. They don't really understand the relationship between the minute and hour hands. And they only slightly understand why 12 means both o'clock and :00 and why 6 means :30 and how to tell if it is 5:30 or 6:30 when the hour hand is right in between the 5 and the 6. But even though they don't totally get it, my students love looking at the clock and trying to figure out what time it is. They are not put off from trying due to their lack of a complete understanding.  

Carl Bloch - "Christ in Gethsemane"

This experience reminded me of my understanding of the Atonement. Even after studying quite a bit, I still am so far from really understanding it. I don't understand why it had to happen the way it happened. I don't understand how He felt all of the pains and sorrows of everyone who will ever live on this earth. I don't get how His dying made it so we can live again.

There are so many things I don't understand, but as Elder Neil L. Andersen once said in a conference talk, "You don't know everything, but you know enough." I know enough to be able to recognize the Atonement working in my life. I know the Atonement enables me to be able to do things I wouldn't be able to do on my own. I know Christ can heal our hearts and give us a clean slate. I know that because of Christ, all wrongs and injustices in this life will eventually be made right. I know that Christ understands exactly how we feel, even when we feel like nobody could possibly understand.

Last April, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave an incredible talk in which he said,

"Please don't hyperventilate if from time to time issues arise that need to be examined, understood, and resolved. They do and they will. In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith."

Just as we don't fault first graders for having a limited understanding of a concept, Heavenly Father will not fault us if at times we have a first grade understanding of a divine concept. Let the things you do know and your faith carry you forward and know that a deeper understanding will come in time.