There is one little boy that really struck me yesterday. This is a neonate that was born at 23 weeks gestation. For those of you who want a size comparison, being born at 23 weeks, the baby was likely around 10-11 inches in length with a weight of maybe 1 pound (500 grams). This is incredibly small and the majority of those born at this age will not survive longer than a few months. This little guy has made it over a 150 days so far!
He has some severe problems, but it shows how well he has persevered. As I thought about him, it made me realize how excited he was to come to earth to gain a physical body and how important it is. Even though is is broken and will never function the way most of ours will, he still does not want to leave his body because the benefits of being in it are still greater than giving up. What a true fighter and a spiritual giant indeed.
We learn from Job that when God presented the plan for us to come to earth to gain a mortal body to be tried and tested that we shouted for joy at the opportunity! (Job 38:7). We know that before we came to earth, we lived with God (Abraham 3:26, Job 38:7, Jeremiah 1:4-5, D&C 93:29). Only He had a physical body, though we were His spirit children, we did not yet have a physical body like He had. Eventually He presented a plan, the Plan of Salvation, where we could all come to earth to gain a mortal body and be tried and tested in order to become like He is. At this announcement we shouted for joy. We knew the only way to truly be perfectly was to be like He, our Heavenly Father, was. So when we were given this opportunity, we shouted for joy. We come to earth, gain this mortal body, and then leave it for a time before we are all resurrected, reuniting our spiritual and physical body never to be separated again. (1 Corinthians 15:20-22, Alma 11:40-45).
This little boy reminded me of this. It seemed he knew how precious this body of his really was, and was holding onto as long as he possibly could. He seemed to understand like the scripture states in D&C 93:33-34: "For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparable connected, receive a fulness of joy; And when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy." Even though it had serious flaws that would keep him from living the type of life that most of us take for granted, he still wanted to experience this mortal world as long as he could in his own, personal physical body. This body was given to him in order to receive a fulness of joy that had been promised him. I am so grateful for this opportunity we each have to gain a physical body and learn how to be more like our Heavenly Father. It is so easy to take such a gift for granted when we have it every day and it usually functions well on its own. I hope that I too, will treasure my physical body like this little spiritual giant did.
