From the book “On Earth as it is in Heaven” Patricia T. Holland wrote:
Every element of creation has its own purpose and performance, its own divine role and mission. If our desires
and works are directed toward what our heavenly parents have intended us to be. we will come to feel our part
in their plan. We will recognize the full measure of our creation,” and nothing will give us more ultimate peace.
When my daughter, Mary, was just a little child, she was asked to preform a talent for a PTA contest. This is her experience exactly as she wrote in her seven-year-old script: “I was practicing piano one day and it made me cry because it was so bad. The I decided to practice ballet and it made me cry even more — it was bad too. So then I decided to draw a picture because I could do that good, but it was horrid, Of course it made me cry.
“Then my three-year-old brother came up and said, ‘Duffy, what can I be? What can I be? I can’t be a piano player or an artist or a ballet girl, “You can be my sister.'” In an important moment, those five simple words changed the perspective and comforted the heart of a very anxious child. Life became better right on the spot and, as always, tomorrow was a brighter day.
All of us face those questions about our role, our purpose, our course in life—and we face them long after we were children. I visit with enough women to know that many, perhaps most, have occasions when they feel off balance or defeated—at least temporarily. . And we ask, “What will I be? When will I graduate? Whom will I marry? What is my future? How will I make a living? Can I make a contribution? In short, what can I be?”
Take heart if you are still asking yourself such questions because we all do. We should concern ourselves with our fundamental purposes in life. Surely every philosopher past and present agrees that, important as they are, food and shelter are not enough. We want to know what’s next. Where is the meaning? What is the purpose?
When asking these questions, I have found it extremely reassuring to remember that one of the most important fundamental truths taught in the scriptures and in the temple is that “every living thing shall fill the measure of its creation.”
I admit that when I first heard this directive, I thought it meant only procreation, having issue, bearing offspring. And I’m sure that is probably the most important part of its meaning. However, most of the temple ceremony is symbolic, so surely there can be multiple meanings in this statement as well. Part of the additional meaning I see in this commandment is that every element of creation has its own purpose and performance; everyone of us has been designed with a divine role and mission in mind. I believe if our desires and works are directed toward what our heavenly parents have intended us to be, we will come to feel our part in their plan. We will recognize the “full measure of our creation,” and nothing will give us more ultimate peace.
I once read a wonderful analogy of the limitations our present perspective imposes on us. The message is that in the ongoing process of creation—our creation and the creation of all that surrounds us—our heavenly parents are preparing a lovely tapestry with exquisite patterns and hues. They are doing it so lovingly and carefully and masterfully. And each of us is playing a part—our—part in creation of that magnificent, eternal piece of art.
But in doing so we have to remember that it is very difficult for us to assess our own contribution accurately. We see the burgundy of a neighboring thread and think, “That’s the color I want to be.” Then we admire yet another’s soft restful blue or beige and think, Those are better colors than mine.” But in all of this we don’t see our work the way God sees it, nor do we realize that others don’t see our work the way God’s sees it, nor do we realize that others are wishing they had our color, or texture or tapestry—even as we are longing for the theirs.
Perhaps the most important of all is that through most of the creative period, we are confined to the limited view of the underside of the tapestry where things can seem particularly jumbled and muddled and unclear. If nothing really makes very much sense from that point of view, it is because we are still in the process and unfinished. But our heavenly parents have the view from the top and one day we will know what they know—that every part of the artistic whole is equal in importance and balance and beauty. They know our purpose and potential, and they have given us the perfect chance to make the perfect contribution in this divine design.
The Lord has promised that the only qualification required to be part of this magnificent plan is to “have desires to bring forth and establish his work.” (D&C 12:7) “Yea, whosoever will thrust in his sickle and reap, is called of God. Therefore, if you will ask of me, you shall receive, if you will knock it shall be opened unto you.” (Doctrine & Covenants 14:4-5.)~~Patricia T. Holland, (deceased) Filling the Measure of Our Creation (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book 1989).p. 3-5
