“Emerson pleaded, “Give me truths: for I am weary of the surfaces” (“Blight,” in The Complete Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson [New York: Wm. H. Wise & Co., 1929], p. 874). While amid so much that is inane, and while surrounded by so many little and superficial things, it is only in the bright light of the restored gospel that we can see the truth as to who we really are and what our possibilities are! As Jacob wrote, we not only see things as they really are, but as they really will be (see Jacob 4:13).
The Lord loves each of us too much to merely let us go on being what we now are, for he knows what we have the possibility to become!
It is all part of the journey of going home. Developmentally, we are all prodigals. When we really “come to” ourselves, spiritually, we, too, will say with determination, “I will arise and go to my father” (Luke 15:18). Neal A. Maxwell, In Him All Things Hold Together, BYU Devotional Address, March 1991