What does Joseph Smith mean to you?

This question was posed in Sunday school today.  The teacher asked us to think about how our lives would be different without Joseph Smith.  The following thoughts are informed by that discussion.

Would I even be here?  I would certainly have a different DNA as my ancestors from Europe came to the Salt Lake Valley because of him.

How would I have met the people I know, including my spouse without him?  There would have been no church parking lot with a cute girl in a white shirt and baseball cap without him.

In high school and at other times in my life when I have seriously questioned my self worth the revelation that I am a literal spirit son of God has been an anchor for my soul.

I would never have traveled to Argentina, learned Spanish, let alone Portuguese, learned and experienced all that I did as a missionary, gotten a degree in Latin American Studies, become an immigration attorney [that one may not be a plus] or ended up living in Park City.

All of my friends from BYU?  Gone.  Singles wards - LA and Mesa?  Gone.  All those people from the  ward in London?  Gone.  How would I have met so many of the amazing people I have met over the years were it not for Joseph Smith bringing us together for Sunday meetings.

Growing up which hero would I have wanted to follow instead?

How about the word of wisdom?  How would that simple direction changed how my ancestors lived?  Would drinking or drugs have been a part of our family culture without him?  When I was young and
feeling small and weak in high school would steroids have tempted me to go a different route?

My sense of purpose and eternity?  Without the doctrines of the degrees of glory and the plan of salvation that explains why we are here on earth how would I have approached life differently?

How would I have handled seeing Lucy lay in her bed in the hospital, and living out the months and years since then without the knowledge that Joseph Smith revealed regarding little children, life and death and eternal families?  My understanding of the resurrection?  What kind of difference did it make listening to Elder Oaks, a living apostle of  Jesus Christ, teach and testify about the Resurrection just 18 days before?  How would things have been different had I not received a witness from the Holy Ghost  that day listening to Elder Oaks?

My understanding of Jesus Christ and my relationship with him [if existent] would be drastically different.  The desire to follow the Savior and return home to a loving Heavenly Father that has motivated and been the source of the majority of the best experiences of my life wouldn't be there.

My darkest hours have been lightened and my greatest joys increased because of the work of Joseph Smith.

For a man that lived approximately 200 years ago he makes a profound impact directly on my life....

Thank God for Joseph Smith