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This devotional address entitled A Complete Look at Perfect was given on July 13th of

1999 by John S. Robertson, then a BYU professor of linguistics and chair of the linguistics

department.

Let me introduce my subject with a brief story.

A month or so ago on a Saturday morning,

my wife Barbara was busy finishing a baptismal dress for a neighbor girl,

and the house was in need of a good picking up and vacuuming.

The need was there, so I did what I frequently do in such situations.

I pressed my children into service.

Unfortunately, I sometimes become grouchy when cleaning house.

I was hoping for a little more flattering picture than that,

but camera doesn't tell lies, I guess.

I noticed, however, that every time I ask my 12-year-old son, Matt, to do a job,

he always responded with a smile and a genuinely cheery face.

If you know Matt, he has a good smile.

He was apparently trying to overcome my grouchiness by smiling, which became obvious to me as it did to

everyone else. I apparently kept ignoring the oh so obvious smiles, however, because Matt finally said,

Dad, whoever said that smiles were contagious

certainly didn't know about your antibodies.

...