A Child of God

"I am a child of God."  We hear it, we sing it, and we believe it.  We understand the basics of our doctrine and we think we know what that means.  We think we know who we are.  In comparison to the rest of the world, we do.   Elder Eyring uses the phrase, "a Latter-Day-Saint who knows and values what it means to be a child of God."  How much do I really know and value this knowledge?

"Remembering the Savior produces humility..." (pg. 3),  I live in a culture that speaks of Him, thinks of Him, "remembers Him" daily.  I am surrounded by things that remind me of Him daily.  But I also have a sticky note in the middle of my bathroom mirror to remind me to take my pills.  After a few days I just move a little to the side to see my whole face, no longer conscious of the note or what it is reminding me to do.  It has become "part of the furniture," something I don't notice.  Is Christ too often part of my furniture?  Is my remembrance of Christ like remembering to brush my teeth or take my pills? Yes, part of my daily life, but too often unnoticed, taken for granted, too routine?  Not missed until I'm somewhere with nothing to sit on?  Then I miss my sofa?

"Remember."  What about Him do I remember?  I had been taught to remember Him as I take the sacrament--to acknowledge my weaknesses of the prior week compared to His strengths and how I need to improve to become more like Him.  But I am taught in Elder Eyring's "I Am a Child of God" that there is so much more to remember.  1. In remembering that He is the creator of all things I acknowledge I am nothing compared to Him. 2. In remembering my dependence on his sacrifice b/c of the fall of man and my sins, I acknowledge I am nothing without Him.  3. In remembering His unfailing love for me, his extended arms and how little I understand about what He did to atone for my sins, I know I am loved even when I fall short of who He is. 4.  In remembering that I will only return as an eternal family to live w/ Heavenly Father by obeying the commandments and having the Holy Ghost, I feel I am part of a plan and He has provided a way to compensate for 1 and 2--being nothing.  I am also reminded of the seriousness of keeping the commandments--it is necessary to being with my family.  What could make it more serious than that?  5.  In remembering His example of complete submission to the will of the Father, I accept that what allows Him to be who He is, (and who I want to be like), is that complete submission to the will of the Father.

After 29 years, the experience of taking the sacrament and covenanting to remember Him has changed.  Thank you Elder Eyring.