I was literally just reading my scriptures and had an insightful thought that I just had to pen, or well, type down. Let's see how much of this I can get done before the kiddos wake up!
I was reading a particular chapter that spoke of the pre-existence and this was the pattern of my thought process: So before we came to earth, we lived in heaven with all of God's children; our brothers and sisters. We don't remember who we knew in the pre-existence. There are only two people in my life I am confident I had close relationships with then: my mother and a guy that was my best friend for a while years ago that I had a special impact on. Even as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, it's hard to remember and feel in a very real way that every other human being is my brother or sister. It's hard to just "love my neighbor", or more especially not "judge my neighbor."
I admit, I have a problem with judging, both myself and others. I don't like that I do it, and I have been trying to get better at it. While it is easier to not speak or act upon judgments out loud, it is near impossible to stop them from just popping up in my head! But when I thought about that truth, that we all lived somewhere else with numberless concourses of souls, the thought that I could be judging someone here who I could have loved and been very close with there pierced my heart. Think about it! A random person you judge on the street, or someone you know but don't like could have been your dearest relationship in the pre-existence! (Or maybe they lived hundreds of years ago, who knows? But regardless, everyone is one of our brothers and sisters! How could I face them in the hereafter, knowing I judged them so? How would that makes them feel to know I hadn't seen and loved them as I did? But more importantly, how would I be living up to the person I was before and the person I vowed to my Heavenly Father I would be by treating His children in a way I never fathomed I could? The question makes me shudder!
Now I know that when the veil is lifted from us and we once again have the memories we had before, there will be lots of love and joy and forgiveness, but that question still makes me think a whole lot more about how I look upon and treat others. I reflect on who I might have been then and what I wanted to become here; certainly not someone who allows the natural man to have such power over her. We all start from scratch when we are born on this earth, so we can't blame ourselves for the follies of the humankind. But with the knowledge we have now of pre-mortal life and our Heavenly Father's plan, we have great accountability to put aside that natural man and learn to follow our Savior and His commandments, especially loving our neighbor. Whether they are acting like it here or not, every human who has been on this earth agreed with God and Jesus Christ's plan to come here and make it back to them. Every human being you see has divinity running through their veins; each is a future God or Goddess. Are we really any better than them, by the way we see and treat them? Think about that...
In this day and age our unity in the human race is weakening as divisiveness grows. We need less judging, less name-calling, less putting-down of others for our own gain. We need more seeing people for who they really are: God's children, our brothers and sisters who lived alongside us with the same purpose. When our lives end, and we are once again on the other side, what will our reaction be when we realize what we have done and who we have become?
