The king and queen and their baby girl

The king and queen and their baby girl 1

Once upon a time there was a king, who was a very just, loving, fair and good king who loved his people and he wanted what was best for them.

He and his wife were excited with the arrival of a baby girl. Their greatest desire was for this baby girl to become ready to take over the throne one day, ready to be just, loving, fair and good to the people of the kingdom. So what they decided to do was to send the baby girl to live with a couple in the city and there to have the couple teach her that she was a princess, but that her role was to learn to love the people, to feel for them in their challenges and difficulties, and to experience life as they experience it. At any time she was welcome to go into the palace and speak to her parents and they would love her to do that. They would confirm to her that she was a princess, and what was their vision for her – to become ready to inherit the throne. She loved her surrogate parents and she loved her real parents, the king and queen. She did her best to learn to love the people, and to serve them. Her parents were delighted to welcome her back into their presence when she reached an age where she could take care of herself and not just expect to be served by a servant in the palace. She was mature and prepared to work for herself and do all that her parents wanted her to do. She had become like her parents.

The king and queen and their baby girl 2

Once upon a time there were a king and queen who loved their people and wanted the little girl who was born to them to inherit the throne. They loved all the people and they wanted each and every one of them to be equal and to be worthy to inherit the throne, to sit on the throne at any time, to be that kind of person, and to do things for the sake of the kingdom, and each person to be the kingdom, striving to do things for the benefit of the kingdom and not for themselves. Those who didn’t like that way of life were free to leave the kingdom, but as long as they were in the kingdom the king and queen wanted them to be selfless, caring and kind. In fact the royal couple very often invited people to come and help in making important decisions and be part of the court of the king. They had a wonderful kingdom. Everyone was working for the good of each other. Those that weren’t comfortable with that way of life left the kingdom, and they were happy enough ouside the realm, but there were also rules there and they would work and strive for excellence, have their businesses and compete with each other, building their own little empires. They weren’t at all bad people. They were good people in their own way, and anyone living in their community and their society was very happy. They did not tolerate people who murdered or lied or cheated. If someone murdered they would be punished by death. If someone lied or cheated, they would be dismissed from the society to live amongst people who chose to live that way. But as long as they lived by the rules of their society, they were welcome to live with them. But it was a society in which individuals strove against individuals, and competed and were sometimes less than generous to each other than they should be, but it was a generally happy society.

The king and queen and their baby girl 3

Once upon a time there was a king and queen who were just and fair and good people, and they were excited about the arrival of their baby daughter. They wanted her to learn to love the people and serve them. They felt that the best way to do this would be to have go out and live with a couple in the town, who would love her and rear her, reminding her of her royal heritage. At any time she was welcome to go into the palace to speak to her royal parents, and her parents wanted her to do that, and she did occasionally do so. But she had a jealous sister who wanted the throne. She did not want to be like her parents, and did not want her sister to compete with her for the right to the throne. She was a good princess but she wanted to have her own way and she wanted the kingdom run the way she wanted it run. So she whispered in her sister’s ear that she wasn’t actually wanted back by her parents, that they wanted her to be good and kind and everything but that she would never actually inherit the throne. She said that that was not their desire for her. Unfortunately she was persuaded by her sister that perhaps the price she was paying in having to be different to those around her and make choices differently from her friends, wasn’t quite worth it. And so she didn’t achieve the greatness that her parents desired of her.

Now, of course we can relate these three stories to our Heavenly Parents and their desire for us to grow and develop and become like them. What they desire more than anything is for us to learn to serve each other, to think and be and make choices like they do. They want us to become like them because we are their children and that is the natural heritage that a child has, to become like its parents. It will never become its parents, never replace its parents, never take the place of the parents, but they can achieve the greatness that their parents achieved. And for every bit of good that they do they add to the greatness of their parents, and for every decision that they make that does not contribute to the kingdom, it’s just that much less glory and success to the parents and to the kingdom. And so we can relate this kingdom to the Celestial kingdom, and the society – that wonderful society where they were good people to the Terrestrial kingdom, and that where people chose to lie and cheat and so forth, to the Telestial kingdom.

But the important thing to remember is that more than anything else our parents in Heaven would love us to return to them, being like they are, making the kind of decisions that they make, doing the kind of things that they do, loving and serving and being as they are. They want to say, “Well done, our good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. We’ll make thee ruler over many.” They want to give us the promise that we read of as ‘joint-heirs with Christ’ (Romans 8:17). They want us to achieve our absolute greatest potential. But there is a jealous brother who doesn’t want us to add to the glory of our Father in Heaven, and he whispers in our ears that that’s not their desire, that it’s a deception that we can become like our Father in Heaven, that we can become as He would have us become, that it’s not achievable and that it’s not something that our Father wants us to achieve.