Before We Came to this Earth

Before we came to this earth
Heavenly Father presented His plan
Continuing as from the first
Agency would be given to man

Knowing it would be easy to sin
A Savior would then be provided
Suffering for all who’d repent
But … to follow this plan not all decided

For, saying He could do better than that
Lucifer guaranteed each man’s return
Taking away agency was where he was at
As also for his own glory he yearned

Then Jesus, the beloved and chosen son
Exercised His agency to say,
“Heavenly Father, thy will be done,
and the glory be thine forever to stay

Now, because Lucifer’s rebelled
A spiritual conflict ensued
A third of heaven chose to be exiled
Desiring to follow Satan instead

Today their only power is to tempt and try us
And our safety is to obey God’s commandments
As on this earth, we still follow Jesus
Giving thanks for His perfect life spent

Throughout His life our Savior showed us
How to return to our Father above
As through faith, forgiveness, mercy, and trust
Even His enemies He prayed for with love

In Gethsemane, He chose to suffer all things
That if we would repent we would not have to
We recognize the peace that obedience brings
Thus we consecrate our lives in all we do

Whenever we choose to follow Christ
We are on a planned path of progress
The end of the journey is eternal life
Thus when we sin, we repent and confess

It is not always easy to return to the path
But we have the Holy Ghost as our guide
To the end, let us each devote all that we hath
That with our families, in heaven, we’ll reside

Let us hearken to our prophet’s counsel
And attend to our children’s spiritual growth
That our home life will liberate them from darkness
To not fear opposition where ever they may go

Let us learn to heed the Spirit’s voice
And follow Christ with more exactness
That we’ll come to know Him, to one day rejoice
And kneel before Him and thank Him for His actions

Then let us anticipate our reunion
With our Father who dwells in heaven above
And thank Him for His decision
To give us the gift of agency with love

Elder Robert D. Hales
Agency: Essential to the Plan of Life