Come One, Come All

Topsy Turvy is a goofy song in the middle of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Previously, I thought that I wouldn't get anything blogworthy out of it, since it mostly talks about how almost everything is backward for "Topsy Turvy Day." No spiritual message there. Yet, there is a spiritual message in the first line of the song, which I also saw on a sign in front of a church: "Come one, Come all." When I saw that message on the church's sign, I thought about how the Savior's invitation to "Come unto me" extends to each individual and all the world.

Jesus doesn't turn anyone away. No matter who a person is or what that person has done, Jesus wants that person to repent and return to their heavenly home, not just because He wants to save as many people as possible, but because He cares about each and every one of us individually. Jesus knew each of us before we were born. We were (and are) siblings. We looked up to Him, and He helped raise us up. We may have forgotten, because of the veil of forgetfulness, but He remembers the relationships each of us formed with Him. He knows each of us personally and cares about us deeply. That is why He still would have completed the Atonement, even if there was only one person who needed to be saved.

Of course, I know that Jesus wants to save everyone, and I'm sure He'd be happy to save as many as He can, but His connection to each of us is more unique than that. We're not just a number of souls to Him. We are individuals, and He cares about us as individuals. When someone chooses another path, He weeps for them, not because then there's one less person to share heaven with, but because that individual person would be missing.

I find it very touching, and a little overwhelming, that Jesus Christ knows me personally and that He wants me to be happy. It's difficult for me to imagine having a personal relationship with Him, but I know I had one, and I know that He still remembers it. Jesus remembers a time when He and I were personal friends. And He wants each of us to return to Him at least partly because He wants those friendships to last forever. It's incredible to think about our personal relationships with the Savior, but we each have them, which is why He wants all of us, and each of us, to come unto Him.