Glory!

I have pondered on the definition of the word "glory."  It is respect, admiration, power, and love.  The more people love us, the more glory we have.  Love is what we give to others, the sacrifices we make for their benefit, and glory is the love others give to us, giving their will.  Love is what we give, glory is what we receive when people submit to us.

Give God the glory
To love God is to give Him glory.  This is done through obedience to His will.  When we say in our hearts, "not my will, but thine, be done," we are giving Him glory by making a sacrifice of our own will.

The Great Jehovah was in the pre-mortal worlds  when two plans were presented for the benefit of mankind, the spirit children of God.  Lucifer had a plan to glorify himself by forcing all to go through mortality completely obedient and return to God unscathed.  All would be required to sacrifice their will to him, and Lucifer would be above all.  God had a very different plan that allowed all to choose who they were going to follow.  Jehovah followed God, and agreed to be the example and sacrifice Himself so everyone else could choose to follow Him.  He submitted to the will of God, giving Him the glory.

Since we are given freedom, mistakes would be made.  All of God's children chose to "take the forbidden fruit" -- except for Jehovah -- and are cast out of Heaven.  Those who made a covenant with God to obey Him were sent to Earth, those who didn't were cast into hell as evil spirits.  The covenant allows God to give us a gift of a physical body since we pledge: "if you will give me a body, I will only use it for Thy purposes."  Everyone who comes to Earth and is born into a body has made this covenant, because those who refused remain spirits forever, never possessing a physical body.  Jehovah never took the fruit, but rather came to Earth of His own accord, with the same promise to be obedient to our Father in Heaven.

The problem is, when we get to Earth, we totally forget our former life, and the covenant we made.  Our bodies are wonderful instruments, that feel, taste, smell, see, and hear all that is in the physical world.  We have emotions and brains.  We can manipulate our physical environment, doing all sorts of wonderful things -- building, dancing, writing, singing, learning, and growing continually.  The greatest of all, is that we can love, touch, and feel another.  It's so easy to get so involved in the wonder of our bodies to forget about where we came from, why we're here, and where we're going when our mortal life is through.  Most people are just trying to get their needs filled, or the desires of their heart, assuming that God wants what they want -- "God wants me to be happy, and this makes me happy..." is the mantra of the day.

Jesus is our Example
In order to give God the glory, we would have to do as Jesus did: "Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:42)  He did not want to suffer in the Garden or on the Cross, but He was willing to go through it in order to glorify God.  Because of what He did we can also give up our own will and be obedient to the will of God, glorifying Him.

The process of subjecting our will to the will of God is often long and difficult.  It requires  the same four steps that all improvement requires:

1. A goal.
2. A plan.
3. A commitment.
4. A sacrifice.

There is no way to improve anything without going through these steps, it doesn't happen randomly.  There is always a goal, always a plan, always a commitment, and always a sacrifice.

The Goal is Eternal Life
Life is growth.  That means we can continuously be growing forever, reaching levels of knowledge, wisdom, power, and love that we cannot even imagine now.  Those who remain inside themselves, continually seeking their own desires are choosing death.  Their foundation is their own heart, what they want.  However, those who want to live get outside of themselves, put aside their own needs, and look for a Mentor to guide them on paths they don't know.

The Plan is the Plan of Salvation
The Plan of Happiness is the same one given by our Father in Heaven before the world was created.  There is only one plan.  The path is strait and narrow.  It is very specific.  It is simple: give up what you want, your deepest, heartfelt desires, and accept the will of God.  That's it.  It's simple.  However, it is quite a process to do.  We must be able to know the will of God, which is a difficult learning experience because, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." (Isaiah 55:8)  So, the process of learning the thoughts and ways of God is a long and difficult one.  It may take a lifetime, or more.  All of the parts of the plan center around learning and doing the will of God.

The Commitment is Baptism
Baptism symbolizes the death of the body, and re-birth of us into the will of God.  This is the same covenant we made in Heaven before we came to Earth, but there is a difference.  The covenant there was made in the spirit to God in His presence.  Thus, the spirit is already subject to God.  On Earth, the covenant is made with the body.  Baptism must be done in the body, in the flesh, in the physical world, in physical water in order to be valid.  In doing so, we promise our body to God, subjecting the flesh to the spirit, and becoming one.

The Sacrifice is the Heart
The symbolism of the heart is our deepest desires, the motivation for life, and all we do.  Everything we think, like, say, and do has a basis in the heart.  That which we love must be sacrificed in order to do the will of God.  It feels like death.  This is a "broken heart, and a contrite spirit," both of which are required to follow the plan.  God will not take our heart from us, it must be a willing sacrifice.  This fourth step is exemplified in the following scripture:

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." (Mosiah 3:19)

Glory to God
When we go through these steps, and take upon ourselves the name of Christ by doing as He did, submitting to the will of God, we glorify God.  When we help others follow these same steps we also glorify God.  We love God by doing His will, giving Him the glory.  In doing so, we receive His glory.  As Christ is glorified by God, so will all those who follow Him.  Our greatest glory is His glory, for we receive all that He has.  Love is what you give to others; glory is what you get when others love you.  The ultimate glory, then is to be loved by God.  When God introduced Jesus Christ to the Nephites, He said, "Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name..." (3 Nephi 11:7)  This kind of has a new meaning, doesn't it?