OF GREAT WORTH

 

“I remember once a seven or eight year old son of ours jumping on his bed hard enough that I thought it might break. I felt a flash of frustration, and I moved quickly to set my house in order. I grabbed my son by his little shoulders and lifted him up to where our eyes met.

“The Spirit put words into my mind. It seemed a quite voice, but it pierced my heart: “You are holding a great person.” I gently set him back on the bed and apologized. Now he has become the great man the Holy Ghost let me see 40 years ago. I am eternally grateful that the Lord rescued me from my unkind feelings by sending the Holy Ghost to let me see a child of God as He saw him.”

-        President Henry B. Eyring, “My Peace I Leave with You”, GC April 2017

Wouldn’t it be something if we could see the spiritual stature of babies, children and adults we do not know? I wager there would be no contention, hate, mistreatment, abuse, crime or war. If we could see each other as God the Father sees us, we would understand who we truly are. Abraham gave us a glimpse of our eternal greatness when he spoke about all the great and noble intelligences that were organized before the world was (Abraham 3:22-23).

We are told we are here to progress and improve upon ourselves. This progression began before we were even born: “In the prior life, we developed various capacities and talents. Some developed them in one field and some in another. The most important of all fields was the field of spirituality, the ability, the talent, the capacity to recognise truth” (Bruce R. McConkie, When Thou Art Converted, Strengthen Thy Brethren, A Study Guide for the Priesthood Quorums of the Church, 1974-75, pp 8-9).

Our individual efforts were not all, however. God told Enoch that man was the ‘workmanship of His hands’ (Moses 7:32). The dictionary defines ‘workmanship’ as ‘the product or result of labour and skill, or work executed’.

To arrive at the estimate of what we are worth, consider all the possible ‘work’ that went into the making of YOU: 1. Your spiritual creation which depended on the Father’s rise to Godhood; 2. Your spiritual tutoring for eons of time; 3. The creation of the earth for your mortality; 4. Overseeing of your earthly progress and protection; 5. Preparation of kingdoms for your eternal destination.

Now think of the scale of guidance, protection, care, overseeing, anguish and sorrow of your Heavenly Parents, the Holy Ghost, your guardian angels, your ancestors, your departed loved ones and all the hosts of heaven who know you. This is true for each one of us who grace this earth.

Obviously, we achieved a lot before we were even born into mortality. What price would you put to all the work that you put into you and the investment of others into you??? I know three things:  the price would be higher than we can possibly imagine; I know who paid it and I know why.

Surely Christ’s supreme sacrifice for all mankind is the crescendo of all the work invested into each soul ever born on this earth, of every creed, of every colour, of every nation. The Atonement is the crowning glory of the work that has gone into you and me. It is the ultimate proof that the worth of a soul is great in the sight of God (D&C 18:10).

All the prior work that had been put into us would be in vain if there was no Atonement, and even more importantly, there would be no future for any of us, and the future is what counts, because it ensures our rightful place in the eternal scheme of things. It completes the Plan, it ensures the success of the Plan, it validates the ‘workmanship’ and preserves its value.

Next time we confront somebody, may we remember we are at eye level with ‘a great person’………

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: I Am A Child of God by Howard Lyon)