Is it worth it?

This week is LDS General Conference week, it's also invisible illness awareness week, the week we held Young Womens presidency meetings, the week in which my husband is out at sea over 8000 miles away so I won't be able to talk to him, as well as the week coming up to my birthday plus all the usual weekly things that go on. Needless to say that my mind is in overdrive. How to gather my thoughts into something intelligible and vaguely coherent? Well it's a challenge, but I'll try my best.

Oh and it's also the week that Autumn really took hold in the south of England, which is never great for me and happens to coincide with being on 1/2 doses of my main medication. So, a great week health wise. Want to know what keeps me going? What's keeping me sane, somewhat treading water and with a glimmer of hope? It's the knowledge that Heavenly Father gave his only begotten son to us, knowing he would have to suffer and be sacrificed for us in order for us to one day return and spend eternity with him in a perfect world. Let's back up and look at a really important word there, 'knowledge' not a thought or an idea but firm knowledge. It's not a belief, it's a knowledge guided by faith. And what a wonderful thing to know, that we will spend eternity with unfailingly perfect bodies. I can't even begin to imagine that. I don't even remember a time before pain and fatigue controlling every second of my life.

This week is hectic, there's a lot to think about for all of us. I'm sure we could all write a list similar to the one I opened with containing all of the items we need to cross off our to-do list this week but I'm still going to ask you to add one more thing. Forgive me?
Think of the pain in your life, both physical and emotional, then think of that amplified to cover the pains of everyone around you, again amplify that feeling to cover all the pains of everyone you ever have or will meet. Don't dwell on it, just spend a few minutes thinking. What you just pictured cannot even be one percent of what our saviour felt as he sacrificed himself for our sakes. For you. Just you.
Then release all of those pains, every single one, and imagine the greatest day you can. It could be spending a day outside with your children with no worries at all, or spending all day with your partner akin to a chickflick montage of summer romances. Then think of that amplified to cover all those little things you worry about, let them all melt away. Again amplify that feeling to cover more than a day, perhaps a week or even a month. What you just pictured cannot even be one percent of what we will experience when we are reunited with our Heavenly Father. Except it isn't just for you, it's for everyone you love.
Does the second image justify the first? In my mind it isn't even a question.
Spend some time this week thanking your Heavenly Father for that opportunity.