DTR

Part of a talk I gave in church.

In a general sense, our journey here on earth serves as an archetype for our relationship with God. Each one of us is born on earth to an earthly family in a state of complete dependency as a baby. We are completely dependent upon others for our physical, mental and spiritual welfare. This state of utter dependence highlights our own capacities, or lack thereof, to survive. Luckily for us however, we have people in our lives that naturally love us, not because we love them, but because we are their children. As children we owe everything to these people, they have given us life, they sustain our lives, we look to them for knowledge, we go to them for solace in times of need. They give us a sense of belonging and understanding of who we are.

Over the course of time we begin to be more autonomous, for our earthly parents do not want us to be utterly dependent upon them. For example we learn how to crawl and walk. Just as our physical capacities develop, so do our spiritual and mental. We learn that we are our own entity, thus we have our own thoughts, we learn how to articulate these thoughts via speaking, we develop desires, dreams, and wants. Our parents largely influence these thoughts and help us develop them so that they can flourish.

Then we arrive at a point that I believe many of us are at now. We are emerging adults. It is at this time our relationships with our parents are dramatically changing. We are becoming interdependent, as opposed to dependent or co-dependent in every way possible: psychologically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. We no longer see them as we did as children. They have taught us the principles and doctrines of life, and how to live and flourish and we are applying them in our lives according to our circumstances. Hopefully the dynamics of the relationships between us and our parents have changed as well. The idea of love is now reciprocal. Our parents love us and we love them in return. We have each made the conscious decision to love and to do things for one another. Although we maintain respect and reverence for our parents, for the mere fact that they are our parents, we also begin to see them as equals or friends.

Now speaking in regards to our spiritual lives. We are born into this world having a veil over our eyes and understanding of who we are and who God is. Thankfully for us we have someone who fills the role of parent, much like our earthly parents, but in a perfect manner. In 1 John 4:19 we learn that He loves us, but not because we loved Him first. In Acts 17:28 we learn that we are God’s children. Over the course of time we develop spiritual legs to move about, we develop spiritual eyes to see and to discern the things God sees, we develop ears to listen the whisperings of the Holy Ghost, we develop the capacity to feel and to recognize the Holy Ghost, we develop spiritual thoughts and desires.

I want to be careful here. I am not suggesting that our relationship with Heavenly Father exactly mirrors that of ours with our earthly parents. He is our God. We will always be dependent of His love and mercy. However, I believe there are some similarities. They are highlighted by a scripture in John 15: 13-15 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard my Father I have made known unto you.”

I love this scripture, it has made all the difference in my relationship with Heavenly Father. I suspect, because of the nature of our life situations, that we are at a point in our lives where we are making pivotal decisions in our relationships with Heavenly Father. For us, especially those that are endowed, He has made known unto us the ordinances, principles and doctrines that we need to know in order to return to His presence. According to the scripture in John, we are no longer his servants, but His friends. And we are in the very act of deciding what kind of friends we will be.

This idea of becoming friends with the Lord is mentioned more than once. In doctrine and covenants we learn that the Lord repeated this same admonition to the saints. D&C section 84 contains the oath and the covenant and is instruction to those that are going to serve the Lord, as His representatives. It reads: “And as I said unto mine apostles, even so I say unto you, for you are mine apostles, even God’s high priests; ye are they whom my Father hath given me; ye are my friends;” verse 77 reads: “And again I say unto you, my friends, for from henceforth I shall call you friends, it is expedient that I give unto you this commandment, that ye become even as my friends in days when I was with them, traveling to preach the gospel in my power;” In section 93 we read: “ Verily, I say unto my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., or in other words, I call you friends, for you are my friends, and ye shall have an inheritance with me.”

I like to think I have a lot of friends and that I am a good friend. I also like to think that God is my friend.