Alma 42:4

"And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God."
Alma 42:4


This is a *fantastic* chapter if any of you are up for it this morning.  Absolutely great stuff... anyway, this is interesting to me.  If we didn't have life (and death) on Earth, then we wouldn't really have any hope.  This is our chance at mercy, our chance to show who we are, and who we want to be.  It's kind of like what sets us apart as humans.  Animals are usually in stimulus-response mode, with nothing in between.  The stimulus happens, and there is an immediate response.  As humans, we have an in-between time.  We can stop and think about HOW we want to react to the stimulus.  It's kind of the same with this Earth life we have.  If it weren't for this life, and the atonement, we wouldn't have any time between mistakes and judgement.  That would be pretty scary... so, God (in his infinite coolness) gave us time to repent, time to think about what we want and change our ways.  Whoo-hoo, right?  That means hope, and light, and a chance to become anything we want to be.  No matter where we are starting from. :)