I have spent a lot of time talking about the choices we make. There is a good reason for this. It's because the only thing we can control is our own choices; actions and reactions. I'm reminded of an old joke: How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the bulb must really want to change. The point is that we can't change anyone else. We can discuss what bothers us about others behavior but they will decide if they want to change it.
Any good marriage counselor will tell you that you can't change your partner. All you women who married less than perfect men (that would be all of us), need to realize you can't mold them into the guy you wanted. You have two choices. Either learn to accept him for who he is, as is; or, if he is too imperfect, leave him. Learning to accept may mean changing ones self to live with him.
This concept applies to most of life's situations. Not just wives trying to change husbands. We will always have people we have to deal with. Life is filled with others. Some of our dealings will be wonderful; others not so much. The degree to which we suffer for other peoples choices will depend a great deal on our reactions. Again we basically have two choices. Accept or leave. We can't always remove ourselves from unpleasant situations, so, if there are a lot of things we can't seem to deal with, the choice is clear. We must change ourselves to become more tolerant. I had a Stake president who used to love to give us this advice to survive church service, "We must have a soft heart and a thick skin."
Of course, there are choices others will make that will cause us to suffer. We can't avoid all of this. It won't always be a simple thing to just accept things that will happen in our lives. There will be things people do that may be absolutely devastating. The good news is that our happiness doesn't have to be determined by these things. The bad news is that our happiness absolutely depends on how WE deal with these things. To over simplify this concept, it boils down to one principal: FORGIVENESS.
I will not go into detail here, but I had some very devastating things happen to me when I was a child. They were definitely the result of someone's choices and I had no control over them. I spent years in therapy learning to deal with this. The steps to getting over this were very much like mourning a death. There was denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance. What I finally realized was that in order to accept this I had to forgive.
The Lord instructed us to forgive everyone for a reason. Simply put, our own sanity depends on it. We can't get past the things others will do to us until we truly and completely forgive them. We were also instructed to love our neighbors. Beyond that, we are to love our enemies. This is not an easy task. I will discus it in more detail in future posts. Today, I am putting it out there for readers to ponder. I know I have over simplified the principle and realize it is a process, but there are ways to make it easier. The main way is to learn to love all of mankind the way our Savior does. Then the mild irritations of life won't cause us grief. In addition, we will have some understanding of why things happen, making it easier to get over the real devastating things we will have to face.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Pre-made Choices
Here are just a few more thoughts on the choices we make in our lives. If we think about it many of the things we do are not conscious choices, but they are truly choices. It's just that we have programmed ourselves to make these choices automatically. We don't think about whether or not we should get out of bed in the morning. Maybe that's a bad example because I have this argument with myself every day. Of course since I am retired it may not be necessary to get up every day. Ok, we certainly don't think about eating. We may have to decide what we will eat but it is pretty automatic that we eat at certain times of the day. We get dressed in the morning. We decide what to wear but there is no option to go without clothing. When we get in the car we don't necessarily go through a checklist to adjust our seat and mirrors and turn the key in the ignition. Today we don't even think about our seatbelts. These things are automatic.
Our Society has many rules that we live by. Many are written, many are not. Norms or mores of society are simply automatic choices we make if we have lived in a society for any length of time. Since I moved to Brazil I have learned of some things that are not done here. The O.K. sign some people use in The States is considered a naughty gesture here. Just one example that comes to mind. The point is, many norms are accepted because they are automatic or programmed beliefs or behaviors; or simply pre-made choices.
Every culture also has a moral code, either written or unwritten, or a combination of the two. Most of us live by this code because we have been programmed from childhood to do so. We don't have to stop and think about most of these choices. We don't kill each other. We keep our word for the most part; although this is not as important lately as it once was in our society.
The really great thing to consider is that we can pre-make most of the choices we may be faced with. There is a movement, to get youth to pledge to wait until they are married to have sex. This isn't the most popular movement among our youth, but some are making this pledge. This is a choice youth will be faced with. There seems to be a great deal of pressure surrounding this choice. If this choice were already made, when the situation arose there would be no discussion. No thinking about it. There are many other situations we will face in our lives. If we anticipate them and decide beforehand what we will do, we won't have to think and decide at the crucial moment.
I have two Brothers-in-law here in Brazil. One is a retired Colonel in the Brazilian Air force, The other is an engineer. Both were taught from their childhood to be honest. Both worked in fields that are filled with corruption. Both have been faced with situations where they were asked to sign off on some dishonest deals. Both refused to do so. Both of these men have had problems in their careers because they wouldn't "play along". The up side of this is that both men can live with clear consciences about the decisions they had pre-made from their childhood.
There are many examples of the same kind of choices that were easily made because the decisions were made well in advance of the situation. I have heard General Authorities of my beloved church speak on this subject, but was unable to find specific talks in my research. I am just saying that this can be added to the tools I previously talked about that we have in making choices. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or any other church, we have guidelines to help us anticipate situations and we can choose how we will react. This is a true blessing.
Our Society has many rules that we live by. Many are written, many are not. Norms or mores of society are simply automatic choices we make if we have lived in a society for any length of time. Since I moved to Brazil I have learned of some things that are not done here. The O.K. sign some people use in The States is considered a naughty gesture here. Just one example that comes to mind. The point is, many norms are accepted because they are automatic or programmed beliefs or behaviors; or simply pre-made choices.
Every culture also has a moral code, either written or unwritten, or a combination of the two. Most of us live by this code because we have been programmed from childhood to do so. We don't have to stop and think about most of these choices. We don't kill each other. We keep our word for the most part; although this is not as important lately as it once was in our society.
The really great thing to consider is that we can pre-make most of the choices we may be faced with. There is a movement, to get youth to pledge to wait until they are married to have sex. This isn't the most popular movement among our youth, but some are making this pledge. This is a choice youth will be faced with. There seems to be a great deal of pressure surrounding this choice. If this choice were already made, when the situation arose there would be no discussion. No thinking about it. There are many other situations we will face in our lives. If we anticipate them and decide beforehand what we will do, we won't have to think and decide at the crucial moment.
I have two Brothers-in-law here in Brazil. One is a retired Colonel in the Brazilian Air force, The other is an engineer. Both were taught from their childhood to be honest. Both worked in fields that are filled with corruption. Both have been faced with situations where they were asked to sign off on some dishonest deals. Both refused to do so. Both of these men have had problems in their careers because they wouldn't "play along". The up side of this is that both men can live with clear consciences about the decisions they had pre-made from their childhood.
There are many examples of the same kind of choices that were easily made because the decisions were made well in advance of the situation. I have heard General Authorities of my beloved church speak on this subject, but was unable to find specific talks in my research. I am just saying that this can be added to the tools I previously talked about that we have in making choices. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or any other church, we have guidelines to help us anticipate situations and we can choose how we will react. This is a true blessing.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Another New Year
As I reflect on another year passing, and another starting, I feel it is time to summarize some of my posts about choices and sticking to them. Everyone is thinking about their New Years resolutions. As we think about our lives and what we need to change, let's not set ourselves up for the usual failure of resolutions.
In Matthew 5:48 The Lord tells us to be perfect. Of course this is our ultimate goal, but perhaps not tomorrow. D&C 10:4 tells us not to run faster than we have strength. So What do we do? The answer may be in figuring out how fast we really are able to run. The last line in the D&C verse I just referenced says, "but be diligent unto the end." The Lord himself "grew grace to grace" (D&C 93:12-13). Certainly, he doesn't expect us to get there any other way. He tells us we will be given "line upon line: precept on precept: here a little, there a little"(Isaiah 28:10).
The road to perfection is a long one. Most of us (certainly me) have just begun the journey. As we decide what to set as our resolutions this year let's look at the tools we have to make decisions. These were discussed in my earlier posts: "Making Right Choices" and "More on Choices" posted on November 9 and 15. Particular attention should be given to listening with our hearts and asking "The Author". Of course it does no good to ask if we don't listen closely for the answer.
Once we have figured out what the most important things are that we need to work on, look back at my post entitled "Baby Steps." Break down our resolutions into steps that we are sure we can do. If that means just doing something one day at a time until we have made definite progress, that's what we do. It is important that we have someone to report our progress to. This should be The Lord. At the end of the day we tell him what we have done and ask again what we need to do tomorrow. It could also be a psychologist or counselor if you aren't comfortable with prayer. As we take baby steps, and keep taking them, we will find that we can take bigger steps, and even bigger ones, until we master the principle we are working on. Just remember, perfection is a lifelong project.
Let me caution everyone here. When The Lord tells us not to run faster than we have strength, we need to understand He DOES expect us to run just as fast as we can. No one knows how fast that is except us and The Lord. Sometimes we don't even know what we are capable of, but He does. This is why we must listen to our Hearts and find the answers He is giving us. And don't take such tiny steps that we are making little or no progress. One more caution: This is a lifetime project, but we never know how long that lifetime will be. I believe the prophecies about the end of the world are meant to scare us; because the end of the world for any one of us is the day we pass from this mortal life. We must prepare for that day as if it could be tomorrow.
To sum up, we have the tools to make choices. Ask (after we do our homework) and listen with our hearts. The answers are there. Once we make those choices, we take baby steps, or, if we are capable, giant steps. Above all, when The Lord said, "be diligent unto the end" He was telling us to KEEP STEPPING.
In Matthew 5:48 The Lord tells us to be perfect. Of course this is our ultimate goal, but perhaps not tomorrow. D&C 10:4 tells us not to run faster than we have strength. So What do we do? The answer may be in figuring out how fast we really are able to run. The last line in the D&C verse I just referenced says, "but be diligent unto the end." The Lord himself "grew grace to grace" (D&C 93:12-13). Certainly, he doesn't expect us to get there any other way. He tells us we will be given "line upon line: precept on precept: here a little, there a little"(Isaiah 28:10).
The road to perfection is a long one. Most of us (certainly me) have just begun the journey. As we decide what to set as our resolutions this year let's look at the tools we have to make decisions. These were discussed in my earlier posts: "Making Right Choices" and "More on Choices" posted on November 9 and 15. Particular attention should be given to listening with our hearts and asking "The Author". Of course it does no good to ask if we don't listen closely for the answer.
Once we have figured out what the most important things are that we need to work on, look back at my post entitled "Baby Steps." Break down our resolutions into steps that we are sure we can do. If that means just doing something one day at a time until we have made definite progress, that's what we do. It is important that we have someone to report our progress to. This should be The Lord. At the end of the day we tell him what we have done and ask again what we need to do tomorrow. It could also be a psychologist or counselor if you aren't comfortable with prayer. As we take baby steps, and keep taking them, we will find that we can take bigger steps, and even bigger ones, until we master the principle we are working on. Just remember, perfection is a lifelong project.
Let me caution everyone here. When The Lord tells us not to run faster than we have strength, we need to understand He DOES expect us to run just as fast as we can. No one knows how fast that is except us and The Lord. Sometimes we don't even know what we are capable of, but He does. This is why we must listen to our Hearts and find the answers He is giving us. And don't take such tiny steps that we are making little or no progress. One more caution: This is a lifetime project, but we never know how long that lifetime will be. I believe the prophecies about the end of the world are meant to scare us; because the end of the world for any one of us is the day we pass from this mortal life. We must prepare for that day as if it could be tomorrow.
To sum up, we have the tools to make choices. Ask (after we do our homework) and listen with our hearts. The answers are there. Once we make those choices, we take baby steps, or, if we are capable, giant steps. Above all, when The Lord said, "be diligent unto the end" He was telling us to KEEP STEPPING.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Stupor
I had a lot of ideas I wanted to put into this blog. Lately I have either drawn a blank in my mind or just can't seem to organize these ideas into a post that makes sense. Is that a "stupor of thought?" Maybe the Man Upstairs doesn't want me to say some of the things I had in mind. Or maybe it is just writers block.
I eventually want to write a book about the subject of this blog: choices and suffering and how to handle the bad things that happen in our lives. I am using this blog to ramble and later I will put it all in some sensible order and put it all together.
If anyone has comments or ideas I would love to here from you.
I eventually want to write a book about the subject of this blog: choices and suffering and how to handle the bad things that happen in our lives. I am using this blog to ramble and later I will put it all in some sensible order and put it all together.
If anyone has comments or ideas I would love to here from you.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
I thought I would depart, for a moment, from the discussion of choices and make a Christmas message for the few readers I have. In these times,when people seem to be afraid of saying Merry Christmas, for fear of offending millions of Non-Christians, I am reminded of one of my favorite Christmas songs. The words were written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, during the American Civil War, But the message is pertinent today. I found two stanzas that are left out of the song we sing today because they referenced the war, so there was actually more despair in the original version. I actually like the modern version better because it ends in a tone of hope for humanity. Here it is:
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet the words repeat,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet the words repeat,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
I thought how as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll'd along th' unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll'd along th' unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bow'd my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."
'Til ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!
As we celebrate this Holiday Season, let us all remember the reason we are celebrating. It is a remembrance of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. What message did He have for the world? I refer to the passage in Mark where a scribe asked what was the greatest commandment. His answer is in Mark 12:30-31, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment."
"And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."
What a wonderful world it would be if we truly loved each other as He loves us.
And I for one will greet all my friends with love and boldness!
Merry Christmas! And Love to all!!
Friday, December 10, 2010
A Caveat
I want to spend some time discussing other peoples choices and why they can cause us some pain and suffering. I will do that, but today I have been thinking about how we often let those things cause us to make many more choices of our own that have a snowball effect. Let me illustrate with a personal experience.
In 1971 I was drafted and had to spend two years in the U.S. Army. I was married and had a child on the way so I was not thrilled to be serving my country. My oldest son was born while I was in training. Needless to say I was relieved when I got sent to Germany instead of Vietnam. This relief was not as sweet as I would have thought. When I got to Germany I found a very hostile environment. It seemed we had a sort of "war" going on between what we called "lifers"(career soldiers) and draftees. most of us draftees did not care for the whole idea of war and military service.
Since I was married and needed to be able to drive a car off base, I was able to test and received a POV (privately owned vehicle) license. This license was difficult to attain because the Germans administered the test and we had to learn the German laws and a lot of international road signs. It was an automatic assignment for young enlisted men who had POV licenses to become Jeep drivers because Jeeps were driven on the roads and highways off base.
My Platoon leader was a West Point graduate named Lt. Locke. He seemed like a decent young man, but he and I soon had problems. One night I was assigned to be the duty driver. This is the guy who has to drive the duty officer and sergeant of the guard around to check on the battalion area and post guards for guard duty at night. Prior to this I had to go home to put on my best duty uniform because I also had to look good during this assignment. As I was preparing to leave to go back to the base to assume my duty, my Baby son got into a cupboard in the kitchen and pulled a box of drain cleaner onto his head. When I got to him he appeared as if he might be eating some. I immediately grabbed him up and my wife held him on her lap in our car while I drove to the infirmary. The doctor there assured us that the boy had not eaten any of the stuff because it would have burned his mouth and throat severely. As a precaution, since he had dumped the powder on his head, they rinsed his eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Then we were to keep an eye on him for the next 24 hours. The doctor gave me a note that was to relieve me of duty so I could be home with my son.
Since my duty station was between the infirmary and my home, we stopped at headquarters and told the duty officer I had to go home. The duty officer happened to be Lt. Locke. He argued for some time about why I needed to go home, until my wife came in and got hysterical about this man keeping me from taking her and our baby home. In this confusion I had given the doctor's note to the Lieutenant, basically to show him this was necessary.
The next day I was called at home and told to report to my company commander. I tried to explain that I was told by the doctor to stay with my baby for 24 hours, but I was "ordered" to report to the commander. When I got to the company area I was ushered in to see the captain. Lt. Locke was in the office already. After enduring a great deal of tongue lashing for missing my duty assignment I was finally given a chance to explain. When I finally mentioned that there was a note from the doctor, the captain changed his tone and asked where this note was. I informed him that I had given it to Lt. Locke. Well, of course, Lt. Locke was unable to produce the note, but a call to the infirmary confirmed my story.
After this event I had a great deal of hate for Lt. Locke. It was so bad I would lie awake at night sometimes plotting ways to take the man's life. Many things I did from that time forth were effected by my feelings toward my Lt. After about a year of this I came to the realization that this was eating me up and was very definitely effecting my life. I also realized that my feelings didn't hurt the Lt. at all. His life went on just fine. I knew I had to forgive him for my own sake. I prayed about this for some time and finally was able to resolve the incident in my own mind. Interestingly, a month or so after I resolved things, Mrs. Locke, the Lieutenant's wife, Had a baby. It seemed like this had a great impact on Lt. Locke's attitude toward me. In fact, a few months later he called me into his office and apologized to me. The last year of my tour of duty in Germany was a much happier experience. A few months later my whole company was invited to test for the Expert Infantryman's Badge. This is a decoration that few soldiers get. It is very prestigious for infantry soldiers. The test lasts three days. I told my Lt. that I was going to prove to him and myself that I could be a good soldier. He laughed, but said he hoped I did. When the results of the test came in no one in my company received the badge, but I had the highest score in the company. I missed by one point. By the way, the officers also took part in the testing and I had beaten all of their scores.
This story is a little long but it has a point. That is that we sometimes let the discomfort that comes from others' choices effect the choices we make. We must be very careful how we react to outside influences because our reaction can have a much more far reaching and long lasting effect on us. We cannot let others' choices change our own ability to make correct choices because the ultimate responsibility for our lives is ours.
In 1971 I was drafted and had to spend two years in the U.S. Army. I was married and had a child on the way so I was not thrilled to be serving my country. My oldest son was born while I was in training. Needless to say I was relieved when I got sent to Germany instead of Vietnam. This relief was not as sweet as I would have thought. When I got to Germany I found a very hostile environment. It seemed we had a sort of "war" going on between what we called "lifers"(career soldiers) and draftees. most of us draftees did not care for the whole idea of war and military service.
Since I was married and needed to be able to drive a car off base, I was able to test and received a POV (privately owned vehicle) license. This license was difficult to attain because the Germans administered the test and we had to learn the German laws and a lot of international road signs. It was an automatic assignment for young enlisted men who had POV licenses to become Jeep drivers because Jeeps were driven on the roads and highways off base.
My Platoon leader was a West Point graduate named Lt. Locke. He seemed like a decent young man, but he and I soon had problems. One night I was assigned to be the duty driver. This is the guy who has to drive the duty officer and sergeant of the guard around to check on the battalion area and post guards for guard duty at night. Prior to this I had to go home to put on my best duty uniform because I also had to look good during this assignment. As I was preparing to leave to go back to the base to assume my duty, my Baby son got into a cupboard in the kitchen and pulled a box of drain cleaner onto his head. When I got to him he appeared as if he might be eating some. I immediately grabbed him up and my wife held him on her lap in our car while I drove to the infirmary. The doctor there assured us that the boy had not eaten any of the stuff because it would have burned his mouth and throat severely. As a precaution, since he had dumped the powder on his head, they rinsed his eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Then we were to keep an eye on him for the next 24 hours. The doctor gave me a note that was to relieve me of duty so I could be home with my son.
Since my duty station was between the infirmary and my home, we stopped at headquarters and told the duty officer I had to go home. The duty officer happened to be Lt. Locke. He argued for some time about why I needed to go home, until my wife came in and got hysterical about this man keeping me from taking her and our baby home. In this confusion I had given the doctor's note to the Lieutenant, basically to show him this was necessary.
The next day I was called at home and told to report to my company commander. I tried to explain that I was told by the doctor to stay with my baby for 24 hours, but I was "ordered" to report to the commander. When I got to the company area I was ushered in to see the captain. Lt. Locke was in the office already. After enduring a great deal of tongue lashing for missing my duty assignment I was finally given a chance to explain. When I finally mentioned that there was a note from the doctor, the captain changed his tone and asked where this note was. I informed him that I had given it to Lt. Locke. Well, of course, Lt. Locke was unable to produce the note, but a call to the infirmary confirmed my story.
After this event I had a great deal of hate for Lt. Locke. It was so bad I would lie awake at night sometimes plotting ways to take the man's life. Many things I did from that time forth were effected by my feelings toward my Lt. After about a year of this I came to the realization that this was eating me up and was very definitely effecting my life. I also realized that my feelings didn't hurt the Lt. at all. His life went on just fine. I knew I had to forgive him for my own sake. I prayed about this for some time and finally was able to resolve the incident in my own mind. Interestingly, a month or so after I resolved things, Mrs. Locke, the Lieutenant's wife, Had a baby. It seemed like this had a great impact on Lt. Locke's attitude toward me. In fact, a few months later he called me into his office and apologized to me. The last year of my tour of duty in Germany was a much happier experience. A few months later my whole company was invited to test for the Expert Infantryman's Badge. This is a decoration that few soldiers get. It is very prestigious for infantry soldiers. The test lasts three days. I told my Lt. that I was going to prove to him and myself that I could be a good soldier. He laughed, but said he hoped I did. When the results of the test came in no one in my company received the badge, but I had the highest score in the company. I missed by one point. By the way, the officers also took part in the testing and I had beaten all of their scores.
This story is a little long but it has a point. That is that we sometimes let the discomfort that comes from others' choices effect the choices we make. We must be very careful how we react to outside influences because our reaction can have a much more far reaching and long lasting effect on us. We cannot let others' choices change our own ability to make correct choices because the ultimate responsibility for our lives is ours.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving
Today being Thanksgiving, I just want to say I am thankful for all the adversity I have had to deal with in my life. After all, the hardships and troubles we work through in life are what make us who we are. I love the title of Cheri Dew's book, If Life Were Easy It Wouldn't Be Hard. It is necessary for life to be hard.
To understand this concept we must understand that we have a loving Heavenly Father and we lived with him (and, I am sure, a loving mother) before we came to Earth. When we were in our pre-mortal life a great council was called. Our Father presented His plan for us to come to Earth to gain physical bodies (for we were spiritual beings then), and to be tested. We would grow and gain strength from this experience. Knowing we would have problems and make mistakes, Father would provide a Savior for us to atone for our mistakes. Our older brother Lucifer countered with a plan of his own. In this plan we would all be forced to do what is right and none of the spirits that were there would be lost. This plan sounded good to a third of the spirits and they chose to follow Lucifer. The rest of us realized that we would not grow or improve under this plan. We needed to have what we call agency, or the right to choose right from wrong. We knew there were risks and some would be lost, but this was the only way we would grow and become strong. By the way, a Savior was provided. Our oldest brother volunteered to do this for all of us, because of the love he has for all of us. He became Jesus Christ.
I also want to say how thankful I am for the gift of agency. This is Heavenly Fathers gift to us to help us learn to control the physical body he also gave us. But most of all I am thankful for the gift of His first-born Son, Jesus Christ, who provided a way for us to return to the beautiful world of our loving Father.
I just wanted to express some of this because it is the day to express our thanks for things that are important to us. I also will use this as a way to introduce the concept of agency. This is really why we must suffer some for other people's choices and sometimes our choices may cause others to suffer. Stay tuned as I discuss this very important concept in future posts.
To understand this concept we must understand that we have a loving Heavenly Father and we lived with him (and, I am sure, a loving mother) before we came to Earth. When we were in our pre-mortal life a great council was called. Our Father presented His plan for us to come to Earth to gain physical bodies (for we were spiritual beings then), and to be tested. We would grow and gain strength from this experience. Knowing we would have problems and make mistakes, Father would provide a Savior for us to atone for our mistakes. Our older brother Lucifer countered with a plan of his own. In this plan we would all be forced to do what is right and none of the spirits that were there would be lost. This plan sounded good to a third of the spirits and they chose to follow Lucifer. The rest of us realized that we would not grow or improve under this plan. We needed to have what we call agency, or the right to choose right from wrong. We knew there were risks and some would be lost, but this was the only way we would grow and become strong. By the way, a Savior was provided. Our oldest brother volunteered to do this for all of us, because of the love he has for all of us. He became Jesus Christ.
I also want to say how thankful I am for the gift of agency. This is Heavenly Fathers gift to us to help us learn to control the physical body he also gave us. But most of all I am thankful for the gift of His first-born Son, Jesus Christ, who provided a way for us to return to the beautiful world of our loving Father.
I just wanted to express some of this because it is the day to express our thanks for things that are important to us. I also will use this as a way to introduce the concept of agency. This is really why we must suffer some for other people's choices and sometimes our choices may cause others to suffer. Stay tuned as I discuss this very important concept in future posts.
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