‘Fumbling Is Not Failing,’ Sunday School Counselor — and Former NFL Player — Teaches at BYU–Idaho Devotional

This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media.

By Aimee Cobabe, Church News

After a career in the NFL — playing for the Chicago Bears — Brother Gabriel W. Reid, Second Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, still remembers fumbling the football during Super Bowl XLI in January 2007.

He showed a picture of that fumble and talked about the experience during a devotional at Brigham Young University–Idaho on Tuesday, October 15, in Rexburg, Idaho.

“No one plans or wants to fumble, but that was me,” he said. “In my mind, I had let everyone down — my team, my family, and millions of fans. I was so focused on my mistake that I actually wanted to quit.”

Brother Reid asked students gathered at the I-Center on BYU–Idaho’s campus why he would want to relive that embarrassing moment with all of them.

“Because each of us has experienced or will have some type of fumble in life,” He said. “We all face disappointments, mistakes, trials and setbacks. The devil cunningly tries to make us believe that we are defined by these moments. The message I wish to share today, and the one I pray you hear, is “fumbling is not failing.”

Brother Reid shared how to not give up after these fumble moments in life.

The Written Word

Brother Reid said he loves the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

He testified that: “As you unpack this book of books, you will quickly find numerous accounts of setbacks, disappointments, embarrassing moments and fumbles. But it also highlights the victories and blessings of people who kept their faith in the Lord, were obedient in keeping His commandments and did not quit. They were blessed both temporally and spiritually.”

Brother Reid went on to share the story of when Nephi broke his steel bow as an example of someone fumbling.

“I imagine it was an embarrassing moment for him,” he said. “In Nephi’s words, things ‘began to be exceedingly difficult’ (1 Nephi 16:21). The continuous murmuring and complaints from others did not help the situation.”

But Nephi did not give up, nor did he join in the complaining, Brother Reid continued: “Instead, Nephi chose to keep moving forward with faith in the Lord.”

Brother Reid said Nephi followed the Lord’s instructions to “Look … and behold the things which are written (1 Nephi 16:26).”

Brother Reid quoted President Ezra Taft Benson: “However diligent we may be in other areas, certain blessings are to be found only in the scriptures, only in coming to the word of the Lord and holding fast to it.”

And he added that reading, pondering and diligently abiding by the teachings in the Book of Mormon “will connect us to the source of all that is good, even Jesus Christ.”

The Lord’s House

Brother Reid quoted Church President Russell M. Nelson’s counsel on making and keeping temple covenants.

“The safest place to be spiritually is living inside your temple covenants,” President Nelson said in his October 2021 general conference talk: “The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation”

Brother Reid echoed the Prophet: “There is safety, peace and a special kind of love and mercy in the covenants of the Lord’s house.”

He said: “God will not abandon His relationship with us as we bind ourselves to Him.”

“My mistakes and fumbles in life do not define me,” he said. “God’s love is unwavering, eternal, even perfect, and we get credit for trying even if we fumble.”

Because of Jesus Christ, Fumbling Is Not Failing

Brother Reid testified that even Jesus Christ was tempted and tried, but He never gave in to temptation.

“He overcame the world so that, by virtue of His Atonement, He could compensate for each of our fumbles,” He said. “As we pray to the Lord, diligently heed to that which is written, go to the house of the Lord and keep our covenants, we will learn that our fumbles don’t define us. Instead, they help refine us.”

He said that often these fumbling experiences teach us many lessons and quoted early Church leader Orson F. Whitney: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God ... and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”

Said Brother Reid: “I am grateful to know that because of Jesus Christ, regardless of how many times we may fumble, it will never impact the outcome of God’s perfect plan of happiness.”

Copyright 2024 Deseret News Publishing Company.