What is the purpose of life?

"Near the end of his life, one father looked back on how he had spent his time on earth. An acclaimed, respected author of numerous scholarly works, he said, “I wish I had written one less book and taken my children fishing more often.”

Time passes quickly. Many parents say that it seems like yesterday that their children were born. Now those children are grown, perhaps with children of their own. “Where did the years go?” they ask. We cannot call back time that is past, we cannot stop time that now is, and we cannot experience the future in our present state. Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future but to be used wisely in the present."  This is a quote from Thomas S. Monson from his talk "Dedication Day." 

What is the purpose of life?  What is the purpose of families?  Why should we do good things?  These are questions that pop up in everybodys lives.  The answers can come.  They come from God.  We gain greater understanding to the purpose of life as our relationship with our Father in Heaven grows.

I love sports, so I will use an analogy comparing this to basketball.  Basketball is physically exhausting; it takes lots of running and competing.  There would be no point to work hard, run fast, and throw a round ball into a hoop, if you weren't trying to win.  If we didn't know the game, or even the point of the game, it would loose all of its value.  Same thing with life.  If we don't know what we are shooting for, or the purpose, life looses all of its value.  

The purpose of life is for us to get a body, learn and grow, and return, with our families, to live with our Heavenly Father again.  When we understand this, and our relationship with God, we understand the importance of making good decisions.  Our Heavenly Father loves us so much.  In Moses 1:39 He tells us what his purpose is, "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." In "The Family: A Proclamation to the World", which was a statement given by a modern day Prophet and Apostles, we learn about our purpose in life, and the purpose of families. click here to read proclamation   

I know that as we learn more about our purpose for being here in life and develop a greater relationship with God, we will know what we must do in order to live life to its fullest.  We will be able to look back on our lives and be happy with the choices we made; because we followed in the footprints of Jesus Christ, our Savior.