Not Altogether Pleasant and Agreeable

While reading the current Ensign today, a quote from Lorenzo Snow (1814-1901) struck me.  So I went to the source and read it in context. 

Here is an expanded more detailed version of the quote from President Snow that I read in the Ensign today:

"It is impossible for us to work out our salvation and accomplish the purposes of God without trials or without sacrifices.

"Trials and tribulations have been the experience of the Latter-day Saints. God so designed that it should be. I daresay that in the [premortal] spirit world, when it was proposed to us to come into this probation, and pass through the experience that we are now receiving, it was not altogether pleasant and agreeable; the prospects were not so delightful in all respects as might have been desired. Yet there is no doubt that we saw and understood clearly there that, in order to accomplish our exaltation and glory, this was a necessary experience; and however disagreeable it might have appeared to us, we were willing to conform to the will of God, and consequently we are here.

"...He will try us, and continue to try us, in order that He may place us in the highest positions in life and put upon us the most sacred responsibilities.

"If we succeed in passing through the approaching fiery ordeals with our fidelity and integrity unimpeached, we may expect at the close of our trials, a great and mighty outpouring of the Spirit and power of God—a great endowment upon all who shall have remained true to their covenants. …" (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow [2012], 110).

I have always known that trials and sacrifices are one of the main reasons we are here to experience mortality.  But what struck me was when President Snow said that the prospect of coming to mortality was not altogether pleasant and agreeable nor as delightful as might have been desired. 

I have often thought that perhaps we didn't know what we were getting into when we signed up to come to earth to experience mortality.  That perhaps we didn't quite understand how difficult it would be.  But, according to President Lorenzo Snow, we knew how hard it would be.  And chose to come anyway.  Because we understood the necessity of experiencing mortality to accomplish our exaltation. We knew that everything we suffered and went through here on earth would be worth it in the end.  The reward of living, in glory, with God for eternity is well worth the small amount of time we spend suffering trials and tribulations in mortality. 

Thanks for the insight President Snow.

That's my two cents.