The thoughts we act upon set in motion a chain reaction of events. Thoughts turn to deeds and deeds to habits, and habits to character, and character to destiny.
To enter through one door is to not enter a thousand other doors.
If our life is a series of events preceded by thoughts, and if some thoughts come to us for a reason, then our life has purpose.
One of the tenets of Latter Day Saints is that we had lived with God in spirit form before coming to this earth to take on a body. Let's think of the implications.
That would be mean that a lot of us knew each other in this pre-existant state. It means that we had developed close ties with many people. This kindred-spirit phenomenon happens all the time. Have you ever met someone for the first time, and felt like you had known them forever?
It also implies that we had foreknowledge of the next phase of our progression, that of coming to earth and inhabiting a body. We would have known of the trials earth life represented, of the bliss and misery that we would face. Yet, we chose to come. To come and do what?
To be tested.
Why tested? It is through these tests that we develop our character, and our destiny. In trials we can chose to become a variety of people. We have options. What measure of compassion have we shown for example if we have only been compassionate towards those who have been kind to us?
How easily are we able to forgive in the face of injustice? Is our strength measured by our ability to destroy, or by our ability to create and sustain life when we are being destroyed?
If there was a demarcation point, a line that separates people into groups, it would have to be the line of forgiveness. On the one side, we have those who exact retribution and pain when pain is inflicted on them, and on the other side we have those who have mastered forgiveness no matter what hardship they endure.
Christianity, and by implication Mormonism, falls squarely inside the forgiveness camp. This has been the hallmark of Latter Day Saints, a group known for the persecution they endured in the 19th century. Other groups would still be seething with anger demanding retribution, reparations, apologies, and special privileges. Mormons don't.
And so, to be a Mormon, is to want to develop the powerful attribute of forgiveness. It begins as a desire embedded in a thought.
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