I love this little quip by Elder Russell M Nelson* about the purposes of mortality, healing and aging."The Fall of Adam (and Eve) constituted the mortal creation and brought about the required changes in their bodies, including the circulation of blood and other modifications as well. They were now able to have children. They and their posterity also became subject to injury, disease, and death. And a loving Creator blessed them with healing power by which the life and function of precious physical bodies could be preserved. For example, bones, if broken, could become solid again. Lacerations of the flesh could heal themselves. And miraculously, leaks in the circulation could be sealed off by components activated from the very blood being lost...
"Even though our Creator endowed us with this incredible power, He consigned a counterbalancing gift to our bodies. It is the blessing of aging, with visible reminders that we are mortal beings destined one day to leave this “frail existence.” Our bodies change every day. As we grow older, our broad chests and narrow waists have a tendency to trade places. We get wrinkles, lose color in our hair—even the hair itself—to remind us that we are mortal children of God, with a “manufacturer’s guarantee” that we shall not be stranded upon the earth forever. Were it not for the Fall, our physicians, beauticians, and morticians would all be unemployed."
Really. Have you ever considered aging a gift? I love that Elder Nelson pairs healing with aging as counter-balancing opposites. I suppose Merlin was right: "to every sqaure there is a round, to every high there is a low, to every to there is a fro - that's what makes the world go round."** And, apparently, that's what makes the plan work.
*“The Atonement,” Ensign, Nov 1996, 33
**"That's What Makes the World Go Round," from The Sword in the Stone, Disney 1963
