A Very Familiar Face

I love this quote from Ezra Taft Benson: “Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to us.” (Ensign, Dec. 1988) I feel in the very center of my being the truth of that statement–that as all knowing and all powerful and all everything that God is, and as small and imperfect and insignificant as I am, I knew Him well before I came here and I will remember that knowing when I return. When I ponder that, I realize that I will also remember that I left there wanting desperately to return successfully–having chosen by faith to follow His plan and having used my time here on earth to become more like Him.

I was listening to a mom many years ago tell a humorous story of a conversation she had with her son. She had received free tickets to a big sporting event that was held on a Sunday. She chose to go and was content with her decision, knowing that it was probably not right given her belief in the commandments of God and the covenants she had made, but felt it was worth the small infraction for the experience. Her son, old enough to recognize that the decision wasn’t quite what he had been taught asked her, “How do you repent of something you KNOW is wrong and choose to do anyway?” She laughingly told us this story, asking, “how do you answer that?!” I pass no judgment on this very good woman or her decision. We all have things we choose to justify because we care just a little bit more about immediate gratification (at least momentarily) than we do about a seemingly far off reward. But it did make me think about the experience we will all have standing before our Father after our time here on earth.

I picture us returning to Him and recognition and remembrance flooding our minds. Can you imagine? The sense of home…finally. The stunning joy and the deep sorrow for the choices we made. I don’t think there will be any recrimination or blame from our Father. I can see Him smiling lovingly upon us, and without His having to say a word, we will just know. We will feel the longing we had to return and the overwhelming desire we had to be like Him and receive all He has. And then we will probably wonder what we thought was so important about those little things on earth. Compared to the glory awaiting us, what on earth could possibly be worth missing it? A game? A party, a job, a belonging? A fleeting moment of pleasure? A temporary popularity? Anything? I am confident that any feelings of censure will be from ourselves for ourselves. When we fully remember who we are and who He is and all He offers His children, we will probably feel cringing regret and the vast foolishness of letting distractions here take priority in our lives for even a moment.

Elder Vinson said something similar to this in October 2019 General Conference: “There is no treasure, nor any hobby, nor any status, nor any social media, nor any video games, nor any sport, nor any association with a celebrity, nor anything on earth that is more precious than eternal life.” In short, there is no price too high to pay nor any sacrifice too great to give to attain life like God offers. Fortunately, we don’t really pay the price at all. Wonderfully, Christ has done the impossible part and we just choose Him and give ourselves-our will, our devotion and dedication. Even for the times when we knowingly rebel, He provides a way for us to ‘come to ourselves’ (see Luke 15:17) and remember what it is we have always truly wanted. When we return to see the familiar, beloved face of our Father who always knew we could make it, we will see both ourselves as He always has and Him as He always has been. And we will know that any sacrifice of worldly things was all worth it.