"Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;
And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.
And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall me made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more."
Doctrine and Covenants 78:17-19
Actually when I started out this morning, I was planning on doing verse 6 of this section... interesting stuff, but we will have to save it for a different day. This is fascinating... first verse, God refers to us as little children... which is true. Sometimes we mistakenly think that we are adults, and we are SO wrong. Do you guys ever think about the fact that we are children that are going to grow up to be _Gods_? And compared to God... which is where we are headed, we are kindergartners, trying to pile blocks or something. We don't understand all there is ahead of us, and we don't come close to understanding all that God has in store for us. If we really understood that, maybe this life wouldn't' be a challenge at all... because seriously... who cares about sacrificing something close to your heart, when you see how amazing your life, and the lives of everyone you care about, are going to be in a few short chapters? If we could really see all that awaits us, there wouldn't be perceived holes in our lives anymore, and no doubts about which way to go.
Then, the second verse, God says, we can't bear all things now (meaning someday we will be able to, I assume) ... but that's okay, because he will lead us along. Sometimes I get so stressed about my life, because I feel like I don't know where I am going, or even who I am completely... but God is there, and if I trust him, and have a little patience... he'll teach me all of that. I just have to let him take care of it and stop thinking I’m such an adult, and I *need* to know. The selection continues with more blessings... everything is ours... the veil is drawn and we can't remember very well, but after we die we are going to look back and say... "I thought that was challenging? ... I thought that was a *sacrifice*??" and laugh at ourselves... because we will have everything... more than anyone on earth can imagine. Not just material possessions or whatever, but love, and peace, and hope, and everything we could ever want.
And then the Lord steps back, for the benefit of our small minds that can't really picture eternity, and he tells us that if we would just remember who is offering us all of it and thank him... that something we can comprehend, like the things of this earth, we'll get that too... as much as we can handle. Weird thing about all of this is just perspective. We get caught up in the cycles of life... sometimes we feel desolate, sometimes we feel great... sometimes we can't see anything, sometimes we get these brief glimpses where things are really clear... but God is above all that, and he says... hang on through the hard parts, I *promise* that it gets better, and that you will have everything you ever wanted, and be happier than you ever imagined was possible. And he is *God* after all... but sometimes we still don't believe him, and we try to tell ourselves that whatever happens after, at least we had this, or that... as if anything here *could* matter that much. The bad things will go away, and the good things will still be there, but multiplied a millionfold... better than ever... so why ever settle for less?
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