Monday, January 27, 2014

remembering.

This is just a thought I had in church yesterday, I'm sorry I cannot recall what triggered it:

The topic of remembering has been one that has been very interesting to me over the past few years. The Book of Mormon is stuffed full of the idea of remembering and forgetting.

We must remember our covenants if we are to be happy in this life.

But the thought I had has mostly to do with the task of remembering in this life the things we knew in our lives before this one.

LDS doctrine teaches that we lived as spirits in Heavenly Father's presence before this life - having been created by him. We know the world was created, and a was Savior prepared and selected for us when we would inevitably sin and experience death.

So this is where the remembering thing comes in. Though I don't remember anything from that time of my existence, and you probably don't either - I feel like there are lots of things we have already remembered.

[This next part is my opinion and not solid doctrine] When we lived there, we had a testimony of Christ as our future savior, we knew who we were - children of God. We knew what would be asked of us in this life and we accepted those respective missions. We had talents and abilities that distinguished us from our spirit siblings. We had desires to return to God, having faithfully passed the test of mortality, trusting in Christ.

We forgot all these things as soon as we came to this earth - and so (I feel) that this life is to a large degree about remembering the things we once knew and already had testimonies of:

Christ as our Savior, our role in our families, who we would bless and who we would be blessed by in this life, what our talents are, what our mission on this earth is - who we are.

So, we must remember our spiritual identity. When we are faced with difficult decisions, or are unsure of what course of action to take, maybe we just need to remember what is most important in our life, so we can fulfill the will of God, and find happiness in remembering who we are and what we're here for.