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The Great Plan of Happiness |
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I had put together my first page, an overview of
pre-mortal, mortal, and post-mortal life and the notebook was out on my
couch when two grandchildren found it and became very interested.
We had a nice discussion about the page, and I agreed to make
them each one of their own for their own books. A few days later there were more grandchildren here, so we held Family Night and the grandson who had already been through the page explained it to the others. We had a really lively discussion about who was still in the pre-existence and who had finished earth life and what they were all doing where they were. The children had some wonderful insights. |
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PUTTING THE PAGE TOGETHER: I
made what is often called a “lap book” by laying a blue file folder
flat on the table, with the manufacturer’s logo underneath, and
folding the two sides over so they overlap slightly on top.
I made the center section eight inches wide and then glued a
plain piece of cardstock on the back with a half inch sticking out on my
left. I punched holes in
that so it could go in a notebook.
I then had a left flap about four inches wide, a center section of about
eight inches, and a right section of about four inches. I
made a fancy, laminated title that says “The Great Plan of
Happiness” which I glued to the flap that is on top when the flaps are
closed. Inside I put
headings of Pre-mortal, Mortal, and Post-mortal on the three sections.
Then I printed a “world” from the church website (reduced
slightly), laminated
it, and put it on the center section under a plain piece of paper with
the title “Why Am I Here?” in black ink.
On the left side (Pre-mortal) I put a long paper that says “Who
is still there?” and “What did we do there?”
On the right side (Post-Mortal) a matching paper says “Who is
there?” and “What will we do there?”
The children or their parents can then write on these papers, and
if they decide later that they want to change what they wrote they can
pull the papers off and make new ones. To finish it off, I taped a piece of fancy paper over the center section to illustrate that there is a veil over the earth. I cut the paper up the middle so that when we talk about earth life, we can move the “veil” to cover the pre- and post-mortal sections. |
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Please share your ideas with us. |
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The
Play and the Plan There
are three parts to the plan.
You are in the second or the middle part, the one in which you
will be tested by temptation, by trials, perhaps by tragedy. Remember
this!
The line, “And they all lived happily ever after” is never
written into the second act of a play.
That line belongs in the third act, when the mysteries are solved
and everything is put right. Until
you have a broad perspective of the eternal nature of the plan, you
won’t make much sense out of the inequities in life.
Some are born with so little and others with so much.
Some are born into poverty, with handicaps, and pain, with
suffering.
Some experience premature death, even innocent children.
There are the brutal, unforgiving forces of nature and the
brutality of man to man.
We have seen a lot of that lately. Do
not suppose that God willfully causes that which, for his own purposes,
he permits.
When you know the plan and the purpose of it all, even these
things will manifest a loving Father in Heaven. Satellite
Broadcast, May 7, 1995 |
