How's That Working Out For You?

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for all of my life, I have been privy to the “plan.” When you are born, you need to be born in a good home, with loving parents who nurture you and cherish you, and siblings who are kind and helpful. You are given a name and a blessing right away to get you on the right track and protect you. Your family has family home evening on Monday nights and as a family you do scripture and prayer in the mornings and prayer again in the evening. Then you have your personal prayers before you slip safely between the sheets.

You attend Primary every week and learn the wonderful songs and are taught meaningful lessons which strengthen and add to your family home evenings. You are loved and adored as you are introduced to the basics of the gospel and told how much the Lord loves you and Heavenly Father too. You sing about how you are His child and just how special you are to Him. You pay your pennies to the bishop as you learn to pay your tithing and you bare your testimony on Fast Sunday and state how you know the church is true.

At 8 years of age you are excited and prepare to get baptized. You have your interview with the bishop and he finds you are worthy and have a testimony. Your whole family comes to see you washed clean of your sins and bestowed with the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is a joyous occasion and you are welcomed with open arms into your ward as it's newest member.

You soon enter the Young Men/Young Women program and there you find leaders who nurture you further in the gospel. The other members who attend with you understand the unique situation a teenager finds themselves in, trying to withstand peer pressure and temptations in this wicked world, and they help you along the way, through the hardest time of a young persons life.

After 6 years of this beautiful experience, you are finally prepared to go on a mission and serve the Lord. You want to pass along the blessings you have been given. If you are a girl, you enter college and check out the newly returned missionaries for a potential eternal companion, (if you do not already have one you are writing.) In a few years you are sure you have found your mate. The wedding is beautiful and the in-laws adore you and say they could have found no one better for their son or daughter had they spent their whole lives looking.

Nothing less than a temple marriage will do and all the family comes as they are all active members with recommends except the little ones who wait outside dressed in their wedding finery for the pictures to be taken later. It is the beginning of living happily ever after.
College degrees are next in line for the faithful members, both man and woman need them because he must provide and she must prepare for any eventuality. Besides, she is to be the primary teacher to the kids that will be coming soon, so she must be smart and beautiful to pass on the blessings she was raised with. He works hard and gets his degree and soon finds a job and begins to work his way up in his lucrative career, providing a lovely house for his family and the requisite van for all the kids to ride safely. Traveling is important to, to round out the experience of the family, and also sports for the boys and ballet for the girls.

As each new child comes, it too is loved as the parents once were. Cherished and adored and welcomed into the family. Spoiled by the grandparents, who do not live too far away, and are more than helpful when needed. They offer support and helpful advice to the young parents who find it is more than adequate in helping them enter this new and frightening challenge called “parenting.”

The children grow, receiving the same blessing at birth, entering Primary, getting baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost, entering Young Men/Young Women and then going on missions. Coming home valiant examples and finding their mates and marrying in the temple. It is a cycle. Beautiful and full of joy and hope. The ones who were the young ones now pass on their wisdom and watch as their children continue to grow into adults, making proper decisions and being blessed.

Occasionally there were some scary moments where someone got sick or had challenges which were hard to face like job loss or people trying to hurt you. But, fasting and prayer always helped you through these trying times and they were sent to you to help your faith and testimony grow stronger, not to hurt you or make you think you are a bad person and are being punished. As you kneel with your family and plead with the Lord, you know He hears your prayers and you watch as He blesses you and answers your prayers, just like the scriptures say He does. These moments bring the whole family closer together because you are calling on the entire strength they all have and know they are putting your names in the temple on a regular basis. You bare testimony at the end of each ordeal with a lump in your throat about the tender mercies from a loving Father in Heaven.

When you are older, you are called to be bishop or Stake President. Your wisdom and knowledge of the scriptures makes your ward or stake stronger and baptisms increase, bring in new members who feel welcomed and embraced in the arms of the members. You sit back, at the fall of your life, and you know all is well. When you retire, you and your spouse ask to be temple workers because you will soon be going to heaven, but you are unwilling to wait for that beautiful feeling to enter your lives. You want to feel close to the Lord now, so you go all the time. Taking a year or two off for a senior mission with your sweetie, again, giving back because so much has been given.

When you are finally called back home, it is a bittersweet moment as you say good-bye to those you love so much. Yet, deep in your heart lies the knowledge that soon you will all be reunited and in the presence of the Lord.

For me, the “plan” stopped working right after “I was born.” How's it working out for you?