The Master Planner

2 Nephi 9:13

O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect.

God has a plan. Indeed, He is the Master Planner. He knows how He wants things to go on both cosmic and microcosmic scales. He planned the creation of the universe, and He planned the placement of every blade of grass. Nothing is too large or too small to be excluded from God’s plan.

A plan, however, is not predestination. Man's agency is also part of God's plan. Therefore, His plan is full of contingencies.

As a project manager, I created many plans in my career. No project ever proceeded exactly according to the "happy path" of my plan. So, I always had to build contingencies into my plan. In fact, the contingency section was typically much more extensive than the "happy path" section. The planned goal never changed, but how the team proceeded to the goal from day to day followed a circuitous track full of bumps and surprises. 

Though I experienced daily surprises in the performance of a project, God is never surprised by the bumps and twists that my agency inflicts on His perfect plan. His plan is perfect because His contingencies are perfect. 

God's plan is to land as many of His children in the celestial kingdom as are willing to live with Him. He already knows who will and will not receive His greatest blessing of exaltation and eternal life in the kingdom of God. Nevertheless, I must live my life and exercise my agency to learn and become a celestializeable being, so that God’s judgment will be fair and just. 

The central and overriding contingency in God's great plan is Christ and His atonement. Christ can ultimately straighten out every deviation and overcome every mistake my agency introduces into God's plan. When I choose to repent, have faith in Christ, and follow Him, Jesus will fix everything in my life that diverted me from God's original plan. God's project--His work and His glory-- to bring about my eternal life and exaltation will not be frustrated. I cannot destroy His plan; I can only destroy myself. 

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