I don't want to drive to Heaven in a Sports Car

I can't wait until I'm 60! Let me explain...For church, we had an enrichment night on Tuesday, and it was a birthday dinner. We have a very mixed ward with newlyweds to widows. At this birthday dinner, one woman from each decade in life (one representing those in their 20's, 30's,all the way to 80's) stood up and listed the top 10 things about being that age. As each woman got up, as each woman got older, their list became more priceless and so meaningful. I always thought that getting old would be so hard, but after Tuesday, it seems like life is finally comes together. They expressed how they've experienced their joys and sorrows with children, work and life; watched their kids grow up and raise children of their own. These family members adore them and their life is so full of meaning and purpose. They have drawn closer to their savior and can spend more time doing the important things. They can take the time to sit and talk with friends, console others, serve others, take a nap, serve at the temple, etc.

We go through life learning the things and overcoming the trials that will get us to that next step that we need to be at in order to complete the next task. There is a purpose and a plan for our lives. Our Heavenly Father knows our needs and wants us so desperately to return to him. He gives us these stepping stones to get back to him. And on that path back to him, hence the title of this blog, I would like to quote Marjorie Pay Hinckley, on how I want to arrive to meet my Savior:

"I DON'T WANT TO DRIVE UP TO THE PEARLY GATES IN A SHINY SPORTS CAR, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want o drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."