My wife and I have been married for over five years and we have a little girl who is soon to be two years old. She has given us so much happiness and joy ever since the day she was born. In fact, the day she was born was one of the happiest days of my life. It was then that my pedigree chart no longer branched off to the right. And my family was slowly coming to me.
We are expecting our third baby (we lost our first four years ago) this spring and are even more excited than we were with Sinéad. Our family is growing even more, and now we will have two children to love and cherish.
And as I think over the words I’ve written, I am left to ponder the parallel between this experience and that of our Eternal Father. I wonder how happy He will be when we return to Him. How excited He will be to see His family “growing” again.
Jesus Christ has taught us in the parables of the lost sheep, the silver coin and the prodigal son (see Luke 15) that Our God will rejoice over he who has returned and who was lost, that He would “make merry and be glad.”
The most exciting parts of those parables however are found in verses six and nine. It is here that the Lord not only rejoices over those who had returned that were once lost, but he wishes to share with His friends that joy.
The Saviour taught this same principle in our day when he told Joseph Smith “how great shall be [our] joy with him in the kingdom of my Father” (D&C 18:15)!
What a blessing it will be when standing before the judgement bar of God, with Him welcoming us home, and we are able to embrace him as he embraces those of His children whom we helped to bring back.
