The Challenge to Become

This weekend I shared with some of my roommates what I learned from the article "The Challenge to Become" by Elder Oaks. I think that it is a very common idea for many members of the church to think of merely our choices and actions that determine our Final Judgment. Never before have I thought of it as who we become and not what we have done; and neither had my roommates. But again, it's a simple truth that rings true within me. It's common sense to suppose that the Lord won't ask us if we did 100% home teaching/visiting teaching, or if we were the Bishop/Relief Society President, or how many service projects we conducted. He cares about our end condition. Do we radiate with joy? Do we glow with the Spirit? Have we truly taken upon the name of our Savior Jesus Christ? Do we fully represent Him?
I read the article once more, and focused on the word exaltation versus salvation. Being in the world, we are surrounded by media, advertisements, and daily interactions with people who cause us to focus only on ourselves. What about me? Why me? Why aren't I happy? Why is this happening to me? While we may be "saved" if we focus purely on our endeavors, we won't have our family with us unless we are exalted. Exaltation requires being sealed for all time and eternity to our family. But that's just not it. We need to progress with them throughout this life, because that is what we will be doing in the next life: becoming. The family is key in this. No family, no exaltation. It's another plain and simple truth. We need to aid our family members in this. We help them the most in their development to become. Instead of criticizing our family members, we should uplift them and make positive suggestions that benefit the family as a whole. Together we can help each other on the road to become.