Ideals

I recently posted a part of this on another blog. Yesterday I came across it at my cousins blog,  The Cottage at Pollywog Pond, so I decided I needed to have it here too. 

This is from Anne of Avonlea, by L. M. Montgomery-

Mrs. Allen to Anne...

   "I hope you'll have a good time, Anne. You've worked very hard this past year and you have succeeded."

   "Oh, I don't know. I've come so far short in so many things. I haven't done what I meant to do when I began to teach last fall... I haven't lived up to my ideals."

   "None of us ever do," said Mrs. Allen with a sigh. "But then, Anne, you know what Lowell says, 'Not failure but low aim is crime.' We must have ideals to try to live up to them, even if we never quite succeed. Life would be a sorry business without them. With them it's grand and great. Hold fast to your ideals, Anne."

It goes along so beautifully with a new favorite quote of mine from Pres. Thomas S. Monson, 

"Be true to your ideals, for ideals are like the stars; you can't touch them with your hand, but by following them you reach your destination."

We have been commanded to "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." Matthew 5:48  We cannot possibly become perfect in this life, but what kind of progress are we going to make if we don't even try?

Let us aim high and find joy in the journey and in the progress we make.