Of Life and Times

In this life we are blind. We can see no further into the past than our own birth and can see no further into the future than our own death. Anything past those two end points is a stab in the dark, a guess. Is it any wonder that so many espouse the belief that there is no purpose to this life except what we assign to it? After all, what is there to tell me that I am anything more than just one of the many animals that have evolved on this planet. We are just the lucky ones, because we can think and direct ourselves, whereas no other animals can.

So many questions. Surely there is some purpose to life other than living and dying. Surely there is some grander design other than pure chance that has allowed me to come into existence as something other than a gnat. But if there is no other purpose than to live and die, then I may as well have been a gnat. At least the gnat doesn't have to worry about its reason for being. The gnat can't see into the future and wonder about the past. The gnat just is until it isn't any longer.

If all this were true, then we of all beings must be the most miserable and lost, knowing that we are without purpose and design, no destiny or past, and no way to change it. What a terrible existence it would be, living from one temporary pleasure to another with only the darkness of the grave at the end of our journey.

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I am so grateful to know better. We as Latter-day Saints have been blessed with the truth. We are all the children of a race of resurrected beings with glorified and eternal bodies. We have lived forever and will continue to live forever. Just as we were raised by our Father in the premortal world, so we understand that our time here is brief. We have certain responsibilities to fulfill and challenges to overcome before leaving this testing ground to continue our development on the other side of death.

This beautiful planet was created for all of God's children so they could be happy while they are here, and delight in the splendors of His creations. This is a place of trials, to see if we will be able and willing to be obedient to the commandments we are given by Him. His promise to each of us is that by being obedient we will be blessed with vision beyond this mortal life. Our faith in God will be able to transcend this small time in mortality and grow into a grand view of all eternity. Only with this view can we muster the hope and faith needed to be completely true to the covenants we have made with our Father and endure in that faith until the end of our small time here.

It is the vision of the hereafter that fuels us. We look forward to a time when we are raised from our separation from our bodies and given perfected versions of what we laid down in death. Because of the covenants we have made the Lord will garner us with knowledge of the universe and how it is made and sustained. We will grow in power and abilities until eventually we will have become like our Father, creators of worlds and families to people them with. We will have joy in our posterity and their happiness for all eternity.

Yes, we as Latter-day Saints are different from the world. We do not see things in the same way. We do not behave in the same way. Our behavior and beliefs are fueled by a vision of eternity, not the short duration and end of mortality.