Gospel Principles Chapter 2: Our Heavenly Family

http://www.lds.org/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-2-our-heavenly-family?lang=eng

The lesson went well and we had positive discussion around what we can learn from our opportunities in life and the benefit of a perspective of this life being our choice, not an imposition.

The Plato, Encyclopedia of Mormonism and Givens quotes were bending my 'rules' a little... but they fitted nicely.

Many people have asked, does God really care about me?

Job’s friend, Elihu, after seeing Job's suffering, asks whether our lives are really noticed? He questions whether we are truly cared about (Job 35:5-7): 

“Look at the heavens and see; observe the clouds, which are higher than you. If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? If you are righteous, what do you give to him…?”

Psalm 8:3-4 “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? (NRSV)

Job questioned (7:17): What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?

God knows us and has known us from before our physical birth

Gospel Principles, p.9: God is not only our Ruler and Creator; He is also our Heavenly Father. All men and women are literally the sons and daughters of God. “Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal [physical] body” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 335).Every person who was ever born on earth is our spirit brother or sister. Because we are the spirit children of God, we have inherited the potential to develop His divine qualities. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can become like our Heavenly Father and receive a fullness of joy.

We were and are individuals. God knows us enough to give us the best opportunities to grow.

Gospel Principles, p.10: We were not all alike in heaven… We possessed different talents and abilities, and we were called to do different things on earth… A veil covers our memories of our premortal life, but our Father in Heaven knows who we are and what we did before we came here. He has chosen the time and place for each of us to be born so we can learn the lessons we personally need and do the most good with our individual talents and personalities. 

D&C 138:56 Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.

(The Encyclopaedia of Mormonism was published in 1992. The compilation project was approved by the First Presidency and articles in the Encyclopaedia are often quoted in church manuals and articles). The entry says the following on pre-earth life and preparation for coming to earth:

Latter-day Saints further believe that the times, places, and circumstances of birth into mortality may be the outcome of former covenants and decisions as well as that which would be best, in divine wisdom, to provide both opportunities and challenges for the individual's growth and development... The specifics of these factors remain unclear. As a result, a person's premortal character can never be judged by his or her present station in life. Some of the most bitter and arduous circumstances may be, in the perspective of eternity, the most blessed, and perhaps even the situations that men and women elected and agreed to enter.http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Foreordination

In other words, if a person is born into an LDS family it does not mean they were more or less righteous in the pre-earth life. Jesus said he had many sheep, in many folds. The parables of the labourers and the 1,2 and 5 talents teach that those who serve God at different times and in different ways are still equally appreciated and rewarded by God.

Elder Uchtdorf said, in the March 2013 General Young Women Meeting: 

You are not alone on this journey. Your Heavenly Father knows you. Even when no one else hears you, He hears you. When you rejoice in righteousness, He rejoices with you. When you are beset with trial, He grieves with you.“…everyone you see around you—in this meeting or at any other place, today or at any other time—was valiant in the premortal world. That unassuming and ordinary-looking person sitting next to you may have been one of the great figures you loved and admired in the sphere of spirits. You may have been such a role model yourself!Of one thing you can be certain: every person you see—no matter the race, religion, political beliefs, body type, or appearance—is family.

http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/general-young-women-meeting/2013/03/your-wonderful-journey-home?lang=eng#9-10785_000_64uchtdorf

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, in Oct 1985 General Conference,

“We agreed to come here and to undergo certain experiences under certain conditions.Elder Orson Hyde said, “We have forgotten! … But our forgetfulness cannot alter the facts.” (Journal of Discourses, 7:315.) Yet, on occasions, there are inklings. President Joseph F. Smith observed how “we often catch a spark from the awakened memories of the immortal soul, which lights up our whole being as with the glory of our former home.” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1939, p. 14.) 

There can be sudden surges of deja vu. A flash from the mirror of memory can beckon us forward to that far pavilion, filled with “everlasting splendours” and resurrected beings.  

C. S. Lewis wrote, “We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so.”From long experience, His sheep know His voice and His doctrine. Meanwhile, the soul weaving in process for such a long time goes on as described in these anonymous lines: 

My life is but a weavingBetween my Lord and me;I cannot choose the colorsHe worketh steadily.Ofttimes He weaveth sorrowAnd I in foolish pride,Forget that He seeth the upper,And I the under side.Not till the loom is silentAnd the shuttles cease to fly,Shall God unroll the canvasAnd explain the reason why.The dark threads are as needfulIn the Weaver’s skillful hand,As the threads of gold and silverIn the pattern He has planned.(In Sourcebook of Poetry, comp. Al Bryant, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1968, p. 664.)

Elder Maxwell used examples of other people who, throughout history, have considered this pre-life existence. 

There are ponderings, like this one:“Everything in our life happens as though we entered upon it with a load of obligations contracted in a previous existence … obligations whose sanction is not of this present life, [which] seem to belong to a different world, founded on kindness, scruples, sacrifice, a world entirely different from this one, a world whence we emerge to be born on this earth, before returning thither.” (Marcel Proust, in Gabriel Marcel, Homo Viator, New York: Harper and Row, 1963, p. 8.)And finally, there are these more familiar lines:Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: … But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home.(William Wordsworth, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,” lines 58, 64–65.)

I find personal strength and answers in one of Plato’s stories of choosing a life carefully:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WMbS85Ijg2oC&pg=PT610&lpg=PT610&dq=plato+%22become+more+just%22&source=bl&ots=hO4PJ3y92n&sig=ijBpJ_tg6hIPYRcdR4yJjRTNYIE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=w_XRUrq8F8ORhQeXg4HQBQ&ved=0CGkQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=plato%20%22become%20more%20just%22&f=false)

"Call  a life worse," [Plato] said, "if it leads a soul to become more unjust,and better if it leads the soul to become more just."

We had a discussion around what we want if we had a magic lamp (comfort, ease, financial wealth) and then what we really want (happiness, satisfaction, meaningful relationships). I didn't read the Givens quote below out, but talked about this type of perspective being one that appeals to me and inspires me:

We have no way of knowing, of course, why some are born in health and affluence, while others enter broken bodies or broken homes, or emerge into a realm of war or hunger. So we cannot give definite meaning to our place in the world, or to our neighbor's.  But Plato's reflections should give us pause and invite both humility and hope.  Humility because if we chose our lot in life there is every reason to suspect merit, and not disfavor, is behind disadvantaged birth.  A blighted life may have been the more courageous choice--at least it was for Plato.  Though the first act of the play was obscure its hidden details make any judgments in this second act so much foolish speculation.  So how can we feel pride in our own blessedness, or condescension at another's misfortune?  And Plato's reflections should give us hope, because his myth reminds us that suffering can be sanctifying, that pain is not punishment, and that the path to virtue is fraught with opposition.

(Terryl & Fiona Givens, The God Who Weeps, pg. 60-61)

God created the earth as a place for us to be able to progress towards our best potential

Gospel Principles, p.11: “…Heavenly Father called a Grand Council to present His plan for our progression. We learned that if we followed His plan, we would become like Him.”
“…we also learned the purpose for our progression: to have a fulness of joy. However, we also learned that some would be deceived, choose other paths, and lose their way. We learned that all of us would have trials in our lives: sickness, disappointment, pain, sorrow, and death. But we understood that these would be given to us for our experience and our good. If we allowed them to, these trials would purify us rather than defeat us. They would teach us to have endurance, patience, and charity.

“We learned that He would provide an earth for us where we would prove ourselves.” The original meaning of “prove” is: to learn or find out by experience.

By divine design, we are living in a state of not seeing the whole picture.

Gospel Principles, p.11: A veil would cover our memories, and we would forget our heavenly home. This would be necessary so we could exercise our agency to choose good or evil without being influenced by the memory of living with our Heavenly Father. Thus we could obey Him because of our faith in Him, not because of our knowledge or memory of Him. 

1 Corinthians 13:8-12 “…whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. For now we see through a glass, darkly… now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” 

We have been blessed with much knowledge by revelation from God which, in some part, the world lacks. But there is an incomprehensibly greater part of truth which we must yet discover. Our revealed truth should leave us stricken with the knowledge of how little we really know.Elder Hugh B. Brown

http://aims.byu.edu/sites/default/files/foundationdocuments/An_Eternal_Quest--Freedom_of_the_Mind--Hugh_B_Brown.pdf

We simply don’t know all things—we can’t see everything. What may seem contradictory now may be perfectly understandable as we search for and receive more trustworthy information. Because we see through a glass darkly, we have to trust the Lord, who sees all things clearly.

http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/what-is-truth?lang=eng

Draw strength from having learned to love in the presence of God.

In his talk to the young women of the church Elder Uchtdorf shared a message for all of us:

Have you ever wondered what language we all spoke when we lived in the presence of God? I have strong suspicions that it was German, though I suppose no one knows for sure. But I do know that in our premortal life we learned firsthand, from the Father of our spirits, a universal language—one that has the power to overcome emotional, physical, and spiritual barriers.That language is the pure love of Jesus Christ. It is the most powerful language in the world...We received our “first lessons” in this language of love as spirits in God’s presence, and here on earth we have opportunities to practice it and become fluent. You can know if you are learning this language of love by evaluating what motivates your thoughts and actions.

http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/general-young-women-meeting/2013/03/your-wonderful-journey-home?lang=eng#9-10785_000_64uchtdorf

The message of the pre-mortal existence helps us trust that we are all on a journey with God, even if we appear to be at different stages.

Elder Uchtdorf continued: Sometimes we become impatient with where we are in our journey… There will always be things to complain about—things that don’t seem to go quite right. You can spend your days feeling sad, alone, misunderstood, or unwanted. But that isn’t the journey you had hoped for, and it’s not the journey Heavenly Father sent you to take…
With this in mind, I invite you to walk confidently and joyfully. Yes, the road has bumps and detours and even some hazards. But don’t focus on them. Look for the happiness your Father in Heaven has prepared for you in every step of your journey. Happiness is the destination, but it’s also the path. “Peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come” is what He promises.

http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/general-young-women-meeting/2013/03/your-wonderful-journey-home?lang=eng#9-10785_000_64uchtdorf