Line upon Line

On a long overnight international plane trip, bored out of my mind, I was passing the time reading an article in the airline magazine about advances in the security business. It was detailing all the methods that had been developed to keep businesses, militaries, and governments secure. One critical component of maintaining security was in identification methods. Security meant insuring that only properly identified persons could access certain areas or documents.

The author started out by talking about what a gift it was to those worried about security that there is such a uniqueness about every human being. Of course, we all know that no one has the same fingerprints as another person. With all the billions of people in the world, so far, security firms such as the FBI have not found any two people with completely identical fingerprints.

Think about that! That is mind-boggling! It is reminiscent of the fact that no two snowflakes in the world are identical. With the billions and billions of snowflakes, how is it possible that no two are alike? How much more important are people, than snowflakes that just melt away?  Turns out, that nothing about people is identical to anyone else.

Any time we touch anything, we leave a fingerprint or two. It’s like leaving a signature on everything we touch. So, one way to restrict access to sensitive materials is to have a pad receiving fingerprints, before access to a room or a document is granted.

The article went on to say that it is also true that no two people have the same pattern in the back of the irises of their eyes. So some security systems have people look into machines that will read the back of their iris before granting access to a restricted area.

The article asserted that everyone has a unique wave pattern to their voice. Consequently, there are machines that read voice prints before permitting access to sensitive areas. In fact, there are a plethora of different identifying factors, For example, no two people have the same hair patterns on their arms. Hence, some restricted areas have machines that will read your arms’ hair patterns. How bizarre is that? And on and on. . .

The upshot of the article is that every attribute of a human being is unique to that person. Every single part of us is uniquely us. No one else in the world has identical patterns in their hair, their eyes, their voice, their fingerprints or any other part of the body. We are a ONE AND ONLY! An incredible thought!

It reminds me of the song my children learned at a Methodist pre-school when they were three years old:

Look all the world over, there’s no one like me,

No one like me, no one like me.

Look all the world over, there’s no one like me—

There’s no one exactly like me!

At three years of age, these kids had no idea how all-encompassing and spectacular that truth was! The song goes on to teach,

Some people are short

Some people are tall,

God loves them all,

God loves them all!

All the uniqueness of a person is contained in their DNA strands.  While our DNA is composed of four letters: A (adenine), T (thymine), C (cytosine), and G (guanine), there are an almost infinite number of combinations of those four letters that make up the human genome. Even though we have a myriad of cells with individual and different functions in the body, every cell is encoded with the uniqueness of the individual. They all carry the DNA of that individual. That includes the eye cells, the hearing cells, the heart, the mind, the bones, the spleen, etc. They all carry the same DNA. And no one’s DNA is identical to anyone else’s.

Every cell in the body knows that the other cells belong to that body. In fact, if someone tries to introduce cells that are nearly identical to the body’s DNA, such as a new heart, for example, the body will reject the heart, even though it functions exactly as the person’s original heart did. That rejection will kill the patient. In order for heart transplants to work, the patient must receive immunosuppressant cells to block the immune system of the body from destroying the new heart. The patient must receive these immunosuppressants for the rest of their lives.

How does a body know that a transplant does not belong? It doesn’t have the same DNA. It’s interesting, because over time, nearly all your cells are replaced by new cells. Yet they all continue to carry your unique DNA.

Your uniqueness is eternal. There never has been and never will be another YOU. You are ONE OF A KIND! In fact, every attribute about you is ONE OF A KIND. And that uniqueness makes you priceless.

More importantly, you are a beloved child of Heavenly Parents. They are the rulers of the universe. In your premortal life you were raised in courts of glory. There is nothing in this universe that your Parents love more than you. They are carefully following your progress. They mourn with you in your challenges and rejoice with you in your triumphs.

You are a child of the promise! I suspect that our Heavenly Parents are saddened when you forget how much they love you and how precious you are to them. Unlike them, we are living in a fallen world. In our world, we are valued not for our royal heritage, but rather we categorize one another by worldly standards, typically using such useless measures as wealth, power, strength, fame, or physical beauty. Every one of these categories is meaningless eternally.

Earthly wealth, fame, and power are fleeting. Not only in this life, but even if you manage to die holding onto them, they do not go beyond this life. Worldly wealth and power are meaningless and pitiful when compared to true strength and power which come from righteousness and receiving eternally our Parents’ inheritance. True beauty also comes from righteousness and the light we receive as we return to our Heavenly Parents.

In India I work with people affected by leprosy. They are thought to be the lowest caste in India, with many people considering them to be cursed by God. Many of them are beggars. Yet I have learned that they have a divinity as real as my own. I have come to love them as some of my dearest and truest friends. I have witnessed many miracles for them.  God clearly loves them just as He loves me. I am convinced that in the next life they will have beautiful, perfected bodies and their eternal progression will continue unabated.

We are tempted in this life to prostitute our eternal uniqueness as we try to look, act, and become like everyone else around us. We want to look like them, drive the same cars they drive, live in their expensive neighborhoods, achieve worldly success. We start to judge our worth by how closely we mirror them. How foolish! And don’t even get me started ranting about social media and its power to make us want to be xerox copies of other people’s lives. . .

Rather, let’s remember and cherish our Heavenly Parentage and our eternal uniqueness. Let’s don’t let the world beat us down by false standards of success. We don’t need to mirror someone else. One of his students once asked High Nibley who would be able to step into his shoes, once he was gone, and be the Church’s new Hugh Nibley. Brother Nibley immediately reacted, insisting that he was Hugh Nibley. There will never be another Hugh Nibley. While some might follow in his footsteps, each person had something unique to offer. He counseled his student to be himself and fulfill the unique role that God had sent him to the earth to do.

When I am discouraged, I remind myself that I am a precious child of Heavenly Parents. It helps me reorient my goals and values. Our prophets have encouraged us to think celestially. That’s how I calm the noise surrounding me trying to make me just like everyone else. It gives me the clarity and the strength to honor my eternal uniqueness and connect with the empowering love of my divine Heavenly Parents. I envision the joy of our reunion when I return to them. When I think this way, I can feel the Holy Spirit witnessing to me and reminding me of their eternal love. I know my true value. That brings true clarity.

In a world where many are depressed, anxious, uncertain and feel unworthy as a result of falling short of some artificial standard, let’s remember who we are.