Neal A. Maxwell wrote:
In the plan of happiness, the Great Shepherd, Jesus, will neither drive nor herd us along the strait and narrow path. Doing such would be against God’s agency drenched plan. Instead, exemplifying and beckoning, Jesus says, “Come, follow me” (Luke 18:22), the very words and manner of a true Shepherd.
If, hypothetically, at the end of the journey we were to receive undeserved rewards, these would soon prove unsatisfying and unenjoyable, anyway (Doctrine and covenants 130:2). Besides, divine integrity precludes God’s giving us unmerited blessings. Amid lives *whipsawed by human frailties, we really wouldn’t want God to cut corners. We want God to be God! Only then can we truly worship Him. Even those who lived “without God in the world” will one day confess that “he is God” (Mosiah 27:31). There will be no questioning of His reality, His character, or His capacity then.
Meanwhile, strange, is it not, how we are willing to settle for so much less? We are like an eager child at a candy store who will settle for just “one of these and one of those,” when the Owner desires to give us the whole store. (Doctrine and covenants 84:38) ~Neal A. Maxwell, Whom the Lord Loveth (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003), 73-74
* whipsawed: subject to two or more difficult situations or opposing pressures at the same time.
For access to quoted scriptures click . . . . ‘The Plan of Happiness’
