i gave my first young womens lesson today, since receiving my call to serve as a counsellor in the presidency at the end of december - coincidentally the same day a new president was called, and i was called straight back into the same position. there was a long list of options, but i felt strongly to talk about choices and the effects they can have on our lives... then felt even more strongly to get some women from our ward in to speak with them. some women with a little life experience, who had at some stage had a difficult choice to make. it worked a treat and i was pleased to see the girls paying close attention as these women spoke to them. ♥
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The choices we make will determine our
destiny. Many years ago, President Thomas S. Monson gave a talk about choices:
When we left our premortal existence and
entered mortality, we brought with us the gift of agency. Agency is the chance
to choose, instead of being told what to do or how to act. Our goal is to
obtain celestial glory, and the choices we make will, in large part, determine
whether or not we reach our goal.
Most of you are familiar with Alice in
Lewis Carroll’s classic novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You
will remember that she comes to a crossroads with two paths before her, each
stretching onward but in opposite directions. As she contemplates which way to
turn, she is confronted by the Cheshire Cat, of whom Alice asks, “Which path
shall I follow?”
The cat answers, “That depends where you
want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which
path you take.”
Unlike Alice, we know where we want to
go, and it does matter which way we go, for the path we
follow in this life leads to our destination in the next life.
May we choose to build up within
ourselves a great and powerful faith which will be our most effective defense
against the designs of the adversary—a real faith, the kind of faith which will
sustain us and will bolster our desire to choose the right. Without such faith,
we go nowhere. With it, we can accomplish our goals.
Although it is imperative that we choose
wisely, there are times when we will make foolish choices. The gift of
repentance, provided by our Savior, enables us to correct our course settings,
that we might return to the path which will lead us to that celestial glory we
seek.
Elder Joseph B Wirthlin said: “The Lord
has given you the gift of agency and instructed you sufficiently to know good
from evil. You are free to choose and are permitted to act, but are not free to
choose the consequences. With absolute certainty, choices of good and right
lead to happiness and peace, while choices of sin and evil eventually lead to
unhappiness, sorrow and misery.”
Some choices are easy:
Should I wear deodorant?
Should I stick my hand on the iron?
Should I tell my brother he’s a moron?
Should I steal my sisters clothes and
makeup?
Some will be harder in years to come:
Should I smoke that cigarette?
Should I drink that coffee?
Should I wear that dress?
Should I tell my parents what happened
at school?
Should I study or go out with my mates?
Some will be a struggle:
Should I serve a mission?
Should I date that boy knowing he’s not
a member of the church?
How many children should I have?
Should I repost that meme even though
I’ve posted 14 others today?
As we contemplate the decisions we make
in our lives each day—whether to make this choice or that choice—if we choose
Christ, we will have made the correct choice. Remaining active in the gospel
and being worthy to hold a recommend to enter the house of the Lord are both
things that will bring about wonderful blessings in this life and pay off with
an amazing eternal reward.
We have a few visitors today and they
are each going to in turn tell you about a choice they have made that has, in
effect, helped them to choose Christ.
Guest speaker – “choice to
return to church”
(I chose a younger girl, not too much older than the young women themselves to talk about why she returned to church after spending much of her teenage years inactive)
Guest speaker – “choice to
join the church”
(A new member of around 6 months, speaking on how she found and joined the church)
Guest Speaker – “choice to serve a mission”
(Our current sister missionaries and how they made their choice to serve a mission)
Guest Speaker – “choice to marry in the temple”
(A girl around my age, who had to make the difficult decision of choosing a temple marriage first up when not one family member could attend her sealing, followed by the the same situation when their adopted son was sealed to her and her husband a few years ago)
Video presentation: a young man choosing a better path to
lead him closer to the Lord - from the lds media library
May we maintain the courage to defy the
world. May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.
For as William Law said: “If you have
not chosen the kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what
you have chosen instead.”
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