The comedian and actor Groucho Marx said, “I intend to live forever, or die trying.”

None of us knows when death might come. We generally work at staying healthy, while balancing enjoying life. In other words, sometimes you just want some ice cream.

God created this beautiful planet for us.

I marvel at the diversity of animals and various creatures.

Our yard is busy with deer, squirrels, birds and a host of other things like caterpillars, worms and spiders. It’s astonishing to think of all the different life and species just in our yard; then multiply that across the entire earth with deserts, forests, mountains and oceans. This planet is a wonder.

I love that God did not just give us a utilitarian planet, but He beautified it with flowers, trees, waterfalls and so much variety.

Clara W. McMaster wrote the words and music to this loved children’s song titled, “My Heavenly Father Loves Me.”

Whenever I hear the song of a bird

Or look at the blue, blue sky,

Whenever I feel the rain on my face

Or the wind as it rushes by,

Whenever I touch a velvet rose

Or walk by our lilac tree,

I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world

Heavenly Father created for me.

Springtime on the Olympic Peninsula is breathtaking. From the flowering trees to the beautiful rhododendron bushes, it is a little slice of heaven.

The prophet Alma said, “All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.”

As I have pondered the wonders of all the creations on earth, and the beauty of the earth, I too have thought like Alma, that there is no other explanation for the order, beauty and life that we find in nature. God is behind it all.

Scriptures are not meant to answer the science behind the creation. We can, however, see the splendors of the world for ourselves.

The earth was made for our benefit. It is our duty to tend to it and beautify it. Our time on earth is given to us to receive a body and to prove our faith in God.

God spoke to Moses and said, “The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine. There is no end to my works, neither to my words.”

We can get a glimpse of this as we stare into the night sky. There seems to be no end to the stars.

The Lord then said to Moses, “For behold, this is my work and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

Of all the creations of God, the heavens, the stars, the planets, the animals, the birds, the mountains and the oceans; out of all of these creations, His work, and His glory is us, His children. He wants us to have immortality, eternal life and to live with Him once again as we did before coming to earth.

If we prepare to meet God, it will be a glorious day.

We prepare to meet God by keeping His commandments. As Jesus taught, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

So while we, as Groucho Marx said, try to live forever or die trying, we can know that death is part of God’s plan and that what awaits us after this life is more beautiful than we can possibly imagine.

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Issues of Faith is a rotating column by religious leaders on the North Olympic Peninsula. Bishop Jason Bringhurst is the leader of the Mount Pleasant Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Port Angeles. His email is jasonbring@gmail.com.