Endgame Wisdom from Frigga

“Everyone fails at who they're supposed to be, Thor. The measure of a person, of a hero, is how well they succeed at being who they are.” --Frigga (Avengers: Endgame)

Last week my wife had her baby shower (only 11 weeks to go now!) and so while she was out I had a few friends over and we watched “Endgame”. It was the first time I’d seen it since theaters, so in some ways it was like watching it brand new all over again. As such, this line from Frigga struck me.

In a world that praises “authenticity” we get so many messages about who we’re supposed to be. These can be as “superficial” as how we’re supposed to look or how we’re supposed to act, but it also extends to how we live the commandments. Too often the world of “authenticity” tells us we’re supposed to live on our impulses, breaking the commandments. The law of chastity and the word of wisdom are two that particular get put under scrutiny. To live as the natural man too often gets equated with living authentically.

However, that’s not who we are. Never mind that we are instructed to “[put] off the off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ” (Mosiah 3:19) but the natural man isn’t even who we are to begin with. Since the beginning, we are the children of God. Those of us who grew up in the church have sung about it basically since birth. It was also reiterated just a couple weeks ago in General Conference with the revised Young Women’s motto.

“I am a beloved [child] of heavenly parents, with a divine nature and eternal destiny.”

As much as we “are” who we’re supposed to be in the world, we’ll never live up to our eternal potential if we stay that way. As Frigga said, the measure of ourselves is how we succeed at who we are, children of God. Of course we’ll stumble along the way. But that’s okay. There’s always a way back to Him and to reach our divine potential.

“God knows that you are not perfect, that you will fail at times. God loves you no less when you struggle than when you triumph.” -- Elder Uchtdorf (General Conference Oct 2019)