Blockbusters and Palaces

Blockbusters & Palaces

Think of one of your favorite books or movies...I'm going to go with the Harry Potter series. Think of the plot, all the twists and turns. Think about why you love that story.  

Now, take out all the problems that hero/heroine encounters. In the case of Harry, both parents live, Voldemort doesn't exist, he goes to school, everyone is his friend. He marries Ginny.  Everything is perfect.  Would you want to read that story?  I wouldn't be interested. Why not? It'd be quite boring.

Our Heavenly Father has sent us to this earth to learn and to grow. He is allowing us to have an epic experience.  Sometimes we score and win the game, sometimes we feel alone and lonely.  It's all part of the story.  

President Spencer W. Kimball, a prophet of God, gave this insightful explanation:

“If pain and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no soul would repeat a misdeed. If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil—all would do good and not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency. … There would also be an absence of joy, success, resurrection, eternal life, and godhood.”

If there are no trials, there could be no miracles. Heavenly Father loves us enough to allow us to grow. A muscle that is not used will atrophy. Our Spirits if left unchallenged would atrophy as well.

I love this quote by C.S. Lewis, a Christian writer, 

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

You are the protagonist in your very own story.  Don’t give up, don’t ever quit!  We are all in this together J  When we return to our Heavenly Home, imagine the stories will have to tell!