We are all God's Children

Since working at a large nursery pavilion warehouse, I have come to truly know a diversified number of all of God's children. This is the fifth largest nursery in the country and employs people from many walks of life and even from different parts of the world.

  Three hundred people work in my surrounding area doing many different tasks. First the potted plants are delivered from the field by tractors pulling metal cages and flat bed trucks. Then the plants are unloaded into other cages on wheels and placed in a number sequenced area so the "pickers" can find the right plants for the orders which are place on 3 to 4 shelved racks on wheels.  These racks are then rolled over to the "taggers" who make sure each plant is of good quality, place a bar code sticker on the pot and attach a picture tag for identification.

  There are ex-convicts, immigrants from Africa, Mexico, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. There are the young and the old, the poor and the wretched, all races and creeds work there. Many help push out thousands of plants during this 12 week Spring season. The racks are then sent to other nurseries and stores all over the South East.

It's a fun job, but very tiring and the diversity of people are quite interesting. Some might say these co-workers are the "salt of the earth" kind of people. Not particularly upper crust or elegant but more simple who have seen a harder side of life and use language that can burn your ears off.. Some are selfish and only have blinders on in life, others are nosy and want to hear every detail of your life.

We are all God's children and are kept in His care regardless of what hardship or mistakes we have made in our lifetime. We need to learn to get along regardless of how annoying we can be to each other and help one another...

From a talk given by M. Russell Ballard in April of 1988 in the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he says:

"Each rose is a compact chemical-processing factory. Using sunlight, the green leaves take carbon dioxide from the air and replace it with oxygen, which we breathe. When other chemicals within the plant react with sunlight, it produces starch that becomes food. As you know, this process is called photosynthesis, and without it the earth’s atmosphere would soon be devoid of oxygen, and most living things would disappear from the earth. My friend told me that the chemical energy and the electrical energy our brains were using at that very moment were once sunlight that was absorbed by the chlorophyll in green vegetation we previously had eaten.
This experience led me to consider the myriad forms of plant and animal life that thrive in astounding balance upon the earth. My esteem for our little roses took on an element of wonder and reverence. I pondered the power of the creative genius who lovingly provided such marvels for his children. I thought then how important it is for every human soul to see and appreciate the glory and grandeur of God in everything about us....
 When we look to see the evidence of creation all around us, from a grain of sand to the majestic planets, we begin to realize that we are the greatest of all God’s creations; we are created in his image. I was joyfully reminded of this fact three weeks ago when our twenty-fourth grandchild was born. I was again filled with wonder and love to hold this precious infant in my arms, to contemplate the miracle of birth, and to see a child born into mortality who had come so recently from the presence of our Father in Heaven....

Likewise in our lives, he who knows most about us, our potential, and our eternal possibilities has given us divine counsel and commandments in his instruction manuals—the holy scriptures. When we understand and follow these instructions, our lives have purpose and meaning. We learn that our Maker loves us and desires our happiness. In an incomparable manifestation of this divine love for us, he sent his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16–17).

All the marvels of nature are glimpses of his divine power and expressions of his love. Yet the greatest of all miracles awaits us. It will occur when, by his power, we will come forth from death and the grave to a new world that will not pass away, where, if we are worthy, we will be with him and our Father in Heaven forever and ever."

A beautiful message for all those who will listen. We are God’s creation and as his creation we have that divinity in us which says we can be better.  We can live better lives than stealing from our employer, using inappropriate language or quarreling over unimportant nuisances.

We are all God's children.