As I thought about how much more I have enjoyed the gym since I decided I wanted to the race, I realized that many aspects of my life have been a lot easier and a LOT more how I want it because I have been setting more goals lately. There have been many things that I had felt I was not doing as well as I wanted to in, so I created some goals to help me improve. It has worked magic in my life. I've been a lot happier as a result.
Realizing how much happier I've been lately because of the goals I've been setting and keeping made me think of the biggest goal we should all have. Eternal life. We should all be working hard to make sure that we will be able to live with our Father in Heaven again when we are done with our mortal life. After all, He set up the best goal path we could possibly follow. It's called the Great Plan of Happiness, also known as the Plan of Salvation.
It works like this: We lived with Heavenly Father before we came to this earth. This is important to realize because it means quite a few things. It means He really does know us. He had tons of time with us before we were born on the earth- we just don't remember it. But He does remember it. It also means that we were around before we arrived on this earth- we had personalities, talents, skills, etc. already. That means we ALL have things to offer in this life.
Then we were born on this earth. We continued our existence. It didn't begin with birth, it advanced with birth. Here on earth we do our best to follow what Jesus Christ taught so we can return to Him. We follow the Atonement and repent when we make mistakes. The biggest thing of the Atonement, in my opinion, was Jesus Christ's sufferings in the Garden of Gethsemane. He suffered for our sins so we could repent and return our Father in Heaven with a clean soul. He did this because He loves us. No one forced Him to do it. It truly was the greatest gift anyone could give.
After we have finished our journey on this earth, we die. Death is not an end, it is another advancement. After we die, we go to the Spirit World and continue to grow and learn.
In time, we will all be judged. Because of the Atonement, we can truly stand before our Father in Heaven with clean souls if we have repented and done our best to follow what Jesus Christ did for us. There is a second piece to the Atonement. Jesus was crucified on the cross. He gave His life for us. Then three days later He rose again from the garden tomb. Because He was resurrected, we will all be resurrected again.
At Judgment, we will go live in one of three kingdoms. The lowest kingdom, the Telestial, is compared to a star. It is glorious, though it is the least glorious of the kingdoms. The next kingdom, the Terrestrial, is compared to the moon. It is more glorious than the Telestial kingdom, but not as glorious as the highest degree of glory. The highest is the Celestial Kingdom.
(For a much better explanation of all that, go to http://www.lds.org/pages/the-plan-of-salvation-d-and-c-video?lang=eng.)
All in all, the entire plan looks like this:
How does all this relate to goals? We have been given the goal to live worthily of the highest degree of glory- the Celestial kingdom so we can live with Heavenly Father and Jesus forever and be like them. We have been given the path to get there- faith and repentance in the Atonement.
In fact, if you look at the entire plan, it would just about fit into the palm of a hand, about the same shape as a nail piercing would be:
Let's all set goals to live worthily of Salvation. This will bring us happiness. This is why we are here on Earth. We all agreed to this path before we were born. Let's follow the path while we are here so that when the time comes, we can live where we will be happiest- with our Father in Heaven.
