The other morning as I was driving to work, I was singing songs to myself out loud in my car. The first hymn I sung was “I Need Thee Every Hour” and then I started to sing “When He Comes Again”, my favorite song of all time. This song has had great meaning for me during my life – actually more than I realized until my brother and his family gave me a beautiful picture of Christ welcoming an individual into His arms once they had passed on. I asked Tom why they had given me that particular picture and he told me because he knew that is what I wanted … to be back with my Savior and my Father in Heaven. His statement made me go back and look over my life to see what had given me this very special goal (actually one of my three dream goals). As I was reading this song one day, I realized why it was my favorite song of all time. The second verse ends with these words:
“Then, when that blessed day is here, He’ll love me and he’ll say, ‘You’ve served me well, my little child; Come unto my arms to stay.'” (Words and music by Mirla Greenwood Thayne)
Oh how I want to hear those words and I want to be in His arms to stay. I am sure that I am not alone and that there are many of my family, friends and others who have that same dream or desire in their hearts. What a righteous desire to have…to want to live so that you can return to him and be welcomed home!! Why else are we even here if not to improve and become the people that He knows that we can be. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows my potential, my father’s potential, my brother’s potential and so on. Although He knows what we can do, He lets us make up our finite minds as to what we are going to do. He is not going to make us follow Him or do everything that He has taught us. We have our agency and He will not make us do anything. He hopes that we will follow His will and He will guide us along the path back home; but He is not going to say, “Celeste, you don’t have a choice, you will follow me whether you want to or not.” That was someone else’s plan to take away our agency before we left our Father’s presence.
One thing that I always remember is that I have the agency to make my own decisions but the consequences are set for breaking His commandments and the covenants I have made with Him. Consequences are different in many situations and for different individuals; but one thing we can be sure of is that the Lord’s consequences are based upon His truths and His promises for each of us. For one who has been given much then much is expected and I know that is an eternal truth.
Just thinking about what He has given me and the trust that He has in me making the correct decisions is overwhelming sometimes. He has shown me so many times how much He trusts me to make the right decision or to come to Him if I need His guidance or help. It fills my heart with gratitude for His goodness and His mercy and His love for me. Each day I continue to learn more about what is expected from me as I know that I still fall short; but He is always there to help me if I will include Him in my life. I don’t have to wait for later and neither do you. We can all feel His arms around us and have that Love from Him that we desire in our hearts now. We just have to choose to let Him through the door of our hearts and we will know of His unconditional love. He does love me and knowing this now truly gives me JOY!!
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