"Thus came the voice of the Lord unto me, saying: All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God;
Also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom;
For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.
And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven."
Doctrine and Covenants 137:7-10
I was reading this today and I realized that it is one of my favorite parts of the gospel. God is saying here that accidents of birth and death and opportunity can't stop us from having the opportunity to fulfill our potential. That's amazing. Life is so unfair sometimes. No way around it. We don't all have the same opportunities or even equal access to the necessities of life. We don't even all get to grow up, or have good parents, or get taught good things. And that doesn't mean that society owes us a living or that we don't have personal responsibility for the choices that we make... and it *definitely* doesn't mean that we can't overcome all of that and be amazing and great and strong and even heroic. We can, and pretty often do. I think that if we knew them better, we would realize that most people are heroes in some way.
Inequities and differences and impediments can sometimes stop us in life from doing what we wanted to do. I'm never going to get to be an Amazon warrior, or the princess and then Queen of my own dominion... among the many, many other things that I won't have the opportunity to do that I may have dreamed of when I was young. But none of those limitations or impediments, whether they are mostly frivolous like mine or intensely tragic like not being able to grow up at all, are made up for by God. Mortal life might be flawed, but eternal life will never be. God will reward us according to our works, but *also* according to our desires.
Today, let's take the opportunities that we have and make the most of them. Let's be everything that we can be here on this earth and live and love and become and bless and serve. And let's not worry about what might have been, because God has all of that covered, and all of it will be okay. Happy endings on their way. If we do what we can with what we have, God will take care of the rest.
Also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom;
For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.
And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven."
Doctrine and Covenants 137:7-10
I was reading this today and I realized that it is one of my favorite parts of the gospel. God is saying here that accidents of birth and death and opportunity can't stop us from having the opportunity to fulfill our potential. That's amazing. Life is so unfair sometimes. No way around it. We don't all have the same opportunities or even equal access to the necessities of life. We don't even all get to grow up, or have good parents, or get taught good things. And that doesn't mean that society owes us a living or that we don't have personal responsibility for the choices that we make... and it *definitely* doesn't mean that we can't overcome all of that and be amazing and great and strong and even heroic. We can, and pretty often do. I think that if we knew them better, we would realize that most people are heroes in some way.
Inequities and differences and impediments can sometimes stop us in life from doing what we wanted to do. I'm never going to get to be an Amazon warrior, or the princess and then Queen of my own dominion... among the many, many other things that I won't have the opportunity to do that I may have dreamed of when I was young. But none of those limitations or impediments, whether they are mostly frivolous like mine or intensely tragic like not being able to grow up at all, are made up for by God. Mortal life might be flawed, but eternal life will never be. God will reward us according to our works, but *also* according to our desires.
Today, let's take the opportunities that we have and make the most of them. Let's be everything that we can be here on this earth and live and love and become and bless and serve. And let's not worry about what might have been, because God has all of that covered, and all of it will be okay. Happy endings on their way. If we do what we can with what we have, God will take care of the rest.
No comments:
Post a Comment