Retaining Experience

Tonight, during our family scripture study, we read D&C Section 122, including the evocative descriptions of all the bad things that could happen to Joseph Smith in verses 5-7. However, this list famously ends with the somewhat comforting words "all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."

I recently ended a D&D campaign, and all of the characters in that campaign chose to retire and to return home (or set up a tavern in what was once the villain's lair), all except for one. One of the characters was chosen to carry on into the next campaign with all their levels, treasure, and magic items. Essentially, this character is carrying all of the EXP and rewards he has gained from one world into the next.

We do the same thing when we pass on. When we go on into the next world, we carry with us all the wisdom we've gained, all the lessons we've learned, all the intelligence we've accumulated. Essentially, we bring all the experiences we've had in life with us.

Granted, not all of those experiences will have been pleasant. Life involves plenty of unpleasant experiences, like those listed in D&C 122:5-7, but all of those experiences can make us wiser, stronger, better people. Essentially, they can make us more like God.

If we allow ourselves to learn from our experiences, and use them to make ourselves better people, we can find ourselves becoming grateful for all our experiences, even the unpleasant ones, and we can be grateful that we get to take them with us when we pass on.