The subject Paul was given for his talk was “Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer.” We got our favorite pictures of Jesus from the gospel art kit, Mommy put it in order, and to help herself, she wrote the words of Paul’s talk on a paper on the back. To her surprise, Paul was reading the words on the back. Here is Paul’s talk for Sunday.
We watched this video together and Paul said, “Mommy, I want to follow Jesus.” Yes, dear. I do too!
I have written a number of posts in my head in the past month, but none of them have made it to this webpage yet. Before I get to those, however, there is something that I’d really like to write.
The subject in sacrament meeting yesterday was hope and joy in the gospel, or something along those lines.
(To preface this post, I admit I only heard about half of the talk because I was in and out with Paul, who hit his head right in the middle of the meeting and was rather touchy. This is a reflection on the part of the talk that I did hear.)
The second speaker began by telling about seven different people he knew in his life that had committed suicide. (Yes, seven. That seems rather high to me.) Then he said (and I paraphrase), “On the other hand, I don’t know of anyone in the church that has committed suicide. That’s because the gospel brings so much joy…. If anyone here has those thoughts of suicide, I urge you to pray them away.”
Then he went on to talk about how the gospel makes everything all better when things are hard. Because it brings us joy.
I was in shock. I could not believe he said “pray them away” from the pulpit! He revealed not just his own ignorance of mental illness but also the gospel.
Mental illnesses, such as depression, are not prayed away.
Sure, prayer can help you when you are depressed or sad. But, while I’m not a mental health expert, I do know that real mental illness in the form of severe, suicidal depression is not solved completely by prayer. It’s like telling someone with cancer to “pray it away.” Talk about setting yourself up for failure!
It is okay to have real feelings. The gospel brings joy, but it does not erase real struggles and disease. Sometimes prayer is not enough. Saying that does not mean I don’t have faith. Accepting that does not mean that you don’t have enough faith. It means you accept the reality of (1) mental illness and (2) the gospel plan of Heavenly Father. Prayer might help ease depression, but it might not. If you are seriously feeling suicidal, get help!
Further, the gospel is not a “cure all” to real disease and real struggle. Members of the church get depressed just as non-members get depressed. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mormon women (particularly stay-at-home Mormon mothers) struggle with more depression than non-Mormon women, simply because they feel the urge to be “perfect” and they think every wrong choice their children make is a reflection on them. (Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6) Or because Relief Society seems to be full of apparently “perfect” mothers with five children when they are obviously struggling with their two children. Or because their husband is in the bishopric (or working many many hours a day or traveling a lot, etc.) and they are raising the child(ren) essentially alone. Or because they have financial problems and tithing is really really hard to pay this month….and so forth.
The reasons Mormon women feel depressed are just as valid as the reasons non-Mormon women feel depressed. Being a member of the true church of Jesus Christ on the earth does not give you a “Get Out of Depression Free” card. You have to face things that come, just as everyone else on earth does.
In case you don’t believe me, here’s Alexander B. Morrison:
It is important to understand, however, that happiness does not imply the absence of adversity. Every individual experiences temptation, opposition, and trials that test faith and endurance: “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Ne. 2:11).
This is what I wished the Bishop said at the end of the meeting (This what I would have liked to have said, at least.):
I want to add my testimony that the gospel adds joy. The good news of the gospel is that because of Jesus Christ, we all can have hope. We know we can all be forgiven when we do wrong. We can all be strengthened when we have discouragement.
Besides that, I know that the gospel also provides a wonderful support system. Sometimes our struggles seem to get the best of us. Turn to your home teachers or visiting teachers if you need help. If you don’t feel comfortable turning to them, turn to me [your bishop]. Prayer can help us find joy in our life, but sometimes we need a lifeline too. The church can help you. I want to reiterate what Brother ____ said. If you are feeling depressed and having thoughts of suicide, certainly pray, but also come talk to me [your bishop] or a mental health professional. We can work through depression together.
LDS-approved articles about depression and mental illness from the last four years: (Note: None of these say “pray it away” as the main tool.)
I realize that the brother who spoke is imperfect, just as I am. His sacrament meeting talk is imperfect, just as my talk will be imperfect. This gospel is a gospel of self-improvement, and thanks to the wonderful Atonement of Christ, one of hope and progression. But when he said what he said, I realized that this ignorance to mental illness is something I’d like to fight against. My blog seems like a perfect place for doing so. Thanks for listening.
I realize the 12-year-olds in my class are not committing murder or smoking or doing anything really bad. They are good kids. I may not have prepared my lesson as best as I could, but they really took me off guard yesterday. Here’s a rundown of my class yesterday (it’s kind of long):
(I’ll call the class Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth, and John, just for privacy’s sake.)
We started by reading Alma 38:8. Mary had forgotten her scriptures. Our meeting house library only has spare scriptures in Chinese.
We also talked about making restitution (apologizing, making up for what was wrong) after we do something and we read some more scriptures, but I couldn’t get them to stop claiming they must fight with their siblings. They don’t believe me when I say they have a choice. I couldn’t get Mary to participate after I called her off of her disgusting pop-the-blister kick.
Now, I know I fought with my sister. But I know I chose to fight with her. I know when I still argue with people that I’m choosing to argue. It’s my fault just as much as anyone else’s. It takes two to fight. I also think family discipline has something to do with it. I know Sarah’s family — they are a bit violent to each other in church; I can’t imagine how they would be at home. Case in point: John, who claims he doesn’t fight with his older brother, is a perfect, focused class-participant (most Sundays).
I really don’t remember what was like being twelve. I asked my husband what I can do. His answer? Don’t teach twelve-year-olds.
Here are my questions for you:
Lesson 12 of 45
Yesterday, I watched a wind storm.
Paul was napping. I sat at my desk, at my computer.
When I heard a strong wind whip through the trees, I looked out. Our house is on a hill so I see trees for miles.
The sky was cloudy and gray. And there was quite a wind. Autumn leaves fell out of the sky–yellow and orange–but so did bunches of green leaves. A branch whipped across the roof. The neighbors’ garbage cans across the highway toppled over, the “for sale” sign was uprooted, and trees seemed to bend. Our lights flickered. One tree bent close to our home, and I heard something banging against our roof.
I worried: I rushed to Paul’s room.
Paul slept soundly. His eyes remained closed, and he sighed in his sleep. He brought his hand nearer his mouth and bumped his pacifier, which rested on the mattress now. He sighed again and turned his head to look at the wall. I heard the wind, but it was distant. All was calm.
I watched him sleep for a few minutes. Then I left his room, closed the door, and sat at my desk again. I don’t know why I panicked and raced to him during the wind. We were safe inside our home. The wind wasn’t going to knock down our walls: they are strong. We were safe.
But as I watched him sleep, I felt this sudden out-of-control feeling: He’s going to grow up. He’s going to go outside, into the world, away from me. Will he be strong enough against the winds, or will they topple him?
And now, my [son], remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
– Helaman 5:12
After a little while, the winds calmed, with only an occasional burst. The clouds didn’t retreat, but the sky lightened a bit.
And then there was a burst of wind, and a full-grown tree toppled over, right through our neighbor’s yard and our neighbor’s fence and our fence and into our backyard.
![100_28242[1]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7032/6692660549_8285875ede_m.jpg)
![100_28251[1]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6692661169_c9662f9548_m.jpg)
As I’ve thought about the tree (and watch it sitting rudely on our lawn), I realized it was only after the worst of the storm was over that the tree succumbed. It had been weakened. In a very real way, the tree it wasn’t strong enough against the winds.
I had thought that the lesson for Sunday school this week was about faith; most of the manual discusses what faith is and examples of faith from the scriptures. But then I looked at the title: Faith in Jesus Christ. It’s not just faith; the first principle of the gospel is “faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Believing, a general faith, is not enough to sustain us through the “mighty winds” that the adversary will send our way.
We can have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow; we can have faith that a seed will grow. But we must have faith that Jesus Christ truly did atone for our sins. That is how we return to our Heavenly Father. It is only in and through Christ that we can return to Him.
Joseph Smith called faith “a moving cause of action” and “a principle of power.” It is not a passive concept. The power of faith is incredible: the walls of Jericho came down, Enoch moved mountains, Jared beheld the finger of the Lord. I think of what those people had to do to exercise such faith. Then I think of the power I can receive by exercising faith in Jesus Christ: the ability to return to my Heavenly Father, despite my shortcomings. Wow! That’s more than moving a mountain in my mind.
I must actively build my foundation in Christ, and I must teach my son to build such a foundation. I can only do that if I rely on my own foundation: I am imperfect, but through Christ, I can be perfect.
I must teach my son that he belongs to God, for he is a child of God first. God has entrusted his spirit to me. What a responsibility!
I suspect I’ll always want to check on him when the winds come, even when the day comes that I must let him go outside, into the world. How will his foundation fare against the “mighty winds?”
Lesson 11 of 45
Just a note for anyone teaching twelve-year-olds about the three kingdoms of glory using the chart from the lesson manual: outer darkness is on the chart. Make sure you prepare yourself to steer the conversation away from outer darkness for the entire class.
For some reason, the twelve-year-olds in my class were quite interested in outer darkness: who will be sent to outer darkness, what are their chances of getting sent to outer darkness, and what happens in outer darkness.
I tried to explain to them that we don’t know a lot about outer darkness for a reason: we’re supposed to aim for the Celestial Kingdom, not outer darkness.
As for the Celestial Kingdom, we read the scripture that explains how a temple sealing is required for the highest glory of the Celestial Kingdom. My class was quite disgusted by that:
“I have to get married? I’m never getting married!” said one girl.
Another turned to me. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Maybe.”
“Did you always want to get married?” she asked.
I can honestly say I have always wanted to get married. Was I unusual? I didn’t realize twelve-year-olds (from active, non-divorced families) are so turned off by marriage.
At any rate, I think I did a pretty good job of steering them away from outer darkness and back to the Celestial Kingdom (isn’t that the point?), and we had a good discussion of what we need to do to make it to the Celestial Kingdom:
I just wasn’t prepared to visit outer darkness yesterday.
Lesson 8 of 45
Since my class didn’t have a substitute — other than the teacher next door, who taught Book of Mormon — they are now three weeks behind. I will have to merge lessons, but I really don’t want to shorten the next three. They are so important! It’s my current challenge, or, if you will, a tiny little “adversity.”
In 2 Nephi, chapter 2, Lehi explained to his son Jacob why we need adversity to learn (verses 11, 16, 22-23). When we compare our lives to life in the Garden of Eden, we see that life would be lacking if there wasn’t opposition. As I mentioned when I shared my thoughts about the Garden of Eden, it’s clear to me that opposition is necessary. I used the example of childbirth: it was horrible, but I learned so much.
In that same chapter of the Book of Mormon, we read about a person who faced adversity (2 Nephi 2:1-2). Jacob was “afflicted” because of his brothers. When I think that Laman and Lemuel tried to kill Nephi multiple times, I think that Jacob must have really struggled as a young boy trying to learn the gospel! And yet, Lehi says that Jacob nevertheless was strong in the faith. I think his trials as a child made him stronger.
Let’s read about other examples of adversity. As we read, think about how we can prepare for adversity.
In the first, a parable, there are two people facing adversity (Matthew 7:24-27). This is a story we’ve known since primary when we sang it:
The wise man built his house upon the rock,
And the rains came tumbling down.
The rains came down, and the floods came up,
And the house on the rock stood still.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
And the rains came tumbling down.
The rains came down, and the floods came up
And the house on the sand washed away.
When I was young, I thought of this song as a “fun song” after all, there are hand motions. I didn’t realize it was a spiritual song. It is talking about Christ, and how we need to build a foundation on Christ:
And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. –Helaman 5:12
Life is hard because there is adversity in it, and there is no promise that it will be easy for us: we knew it would be hard when we agreed to come to earth. But we can rely on Christ and make him our foundation as we go through hard times.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. –Matthew 11:28-30
(Note, and this is just me: I don’t think he’s saying things will be easy if we turn to him. He’s saying his yoke is easy. I think that means that it is easy to turn to Him and make Him a part of our lives. He’s there for us. We still may have a hard life, filled with adversity, even by depending on Christ. The man with a house upon a rock still had to face the rains. But Christ can help us, and we’ll have a foundation that is sturdy. We can trust Christ to always be there.)
Here are some scriptural examples of adversity.
As we read, we’ll answer these questions:
Some adversity is our own fault: we sin and thus bring adversity upon ourselves (as Jonah did and as we do when we break the commandments). Other adversity doesn’t come from sin but from the circumstances we are in (Nephi’s bow broke; our car didn’t start; our dinner burned, which technically is our fault but we didn’t intend for it to happen). Still other trials come because other people are exercising their agency (Nephi’s family complained against him; enemies put Joseph Smith in jail; our little brother lost our favorite book). But ultimately, adversity can strengthen us. We can’t complain too much: as the Lord reminded Joseph Smith, the Son of Man descended beneath all of us: He suffered for all of us already. If we say it’s too hard, we’re saying we’re greater than He is.
Let’s not pretend our adversity is that bad. By relying on Christ and making Him our foundation, we can get through any rains that may come.
Lesson 6 of 45
(Note: I put a link to the LDS scriptures in the sidebar. It takes too long to link each reference!)
While teaching my lesson about the Atonement four weeks ago, I ran out of time to talk about the most important aspects, namely the things we must do to receive all the blessings of the Atonement and what will happen if we do not accept the Atonement in our lives.
Since then, I’ve missed three weeks of lessons and I don’t know who, if anyone, was the substitute. (I did talk to the Sunday school president and he said he’d find substitutes, but my husband thinks the Sunday school president was probably confused and I should have found substitutes myself. Oops.)
Because I don’t know what to expect, here’s my plan for gospel discussion, which merges the concepts of lesson 4 (The Atonement of Jesus Christ) and lesson 5 (Mortality: A Time to Learn through Experience). I feel like lesson 4 is the most important lesson in the manual, so I want to make sure we discuss some of the concepts again.
Today we’re going to talk about two things: What we must do to make the Atonement of Jesus Christ real in our lives and what we must learn in this life to prepare to meet Heavenly Father.
To discuss the two key points of this lesson, we’re going to read parts of 2 Nephi 9, which I believe is one of the best chapters in the Book of Mormon (is it fair to choose favorites?). I think it discusses the vital aspects of the Atonement.
2 Nephi 9:4-7, 21-24
- Believe (John 3:16)
- Repent (Doctrine and Covenants 19:16, 2 Nephi 9:23)
- Hearken unto his voice (2 Nephi 9:21)
- Be baptized and exercise faith in Christ (2 Nephi 9:23)
- Endure to the end (2 Nephi 9:24)
2 Nephi 9:10-12
2 Nephi 9:13-16, 27
- Charity is the pure love of Christ (Moroni 7:45-47)
- Qualities to emulate (2 Peter 1:5-7)
- Family: Doctrine and Covenants 88:123 (we learn love and unselfishness)
- Church callings: Doctrine and Covenants 4:2 (we learn service)
- Friends: Doctrine and Covenants 121:9 (we learn loyalty)
- School, church, and seminary classes: Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-19 (we learn knowledge and understanding)
I realize that I probably won’t get through all of this material. I don’t know what they’ve learned in the past few weeks and so we’ll have to play it by ear.
I also realize that some of these questions might be challenging for 12-year-olds. Overall, though, I feel the manual doesn’t give them enough credit. They are very smart and able to understand the scriptures. We should spend more time reading directly from the scriptures and less time reading stories. I feel that stories might be good, but they are not as powerful as the word of God. A class of bright 12-year-olds can benefit from a Sunday school class immersed in the scriptures.
I have procrastinated preparing this lesson, quite simply because I don’t see how I can possibly help four 12-year-olds gain an appreciation for the Atonement of Jesus Christ in 30 minutes. I feel this is the most important lesson in the book, and I don’t know where to begin.
Obviously, testimony is the most crucial aspect of any lesson: I know I can bear my testimony.
I guess the best place to begin is where we left off in last week’s lesson.
Because Adam and Eve transgressed in the Garden of Eden, they gained knowledge of good and evil. Physical death entered the world, which meant that our bodies and spirits would be separated. Adam’s transgression also allowed spiritual death to enter the world (Doctrine and Covenants 29:40-41).
We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression. –Article of Faith 2
That’s good news: Adam’s transgression doesn’t automatically mean we’re all punished. But the problem is that we all will sin. Sin makes us unclean, and “no unclean thing can dwell with God” (1 Nephi 10:21).
Here’s the good news for all of us:
We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. –Article of Faith 3
Without a Savior, we’d be dead twice: physically and spiritually. Physically, our bodies would not be united with our spirits. Spiritually, we’d be denied the presence of God because we are unclean. Jesus Christ was chosen to be the Savior. His resurrection makes it possible for each of us to be resurrected and thus overcome physical death. Also, because He willingly gave his life for each of us and paid the price for our sins, we can each be forgiven for the sins we commit so that we can become clean again. We can dwell with God again.
The plan of Heavenly Father required justice: the sins must be paid for. A Savior provides mercy: we have a chance to return to our Heavenly Father. The law of justice is met because the price for the sin is paid, and the law of mercy is met because Christ has mercy on each of us, who are imperfect.
The Mediator
The mediator in this film (the debtor’s friend) said that he would pay the debt and become the debtors new creditor. The debtor would have to repay the debt on the creditors terms.
Similarly, in our lives, the Savior gives us clear instructions on what we must do to receive the blessings of the Atonement in our lives.
Everyone who has or will come to earth will receive the blessing of resurrection and thus be saved from physical death. But to be saved from spiritual death, we must rely on the Mediator to pay the price for our sins. Then, if we do not meet the creditor’s terms, that is, if we do not repent, we will have to suffer for our own sins (Doctrine and Covenants 19:17-18) because that is how justice will be met.
I know Christ did suffer so that we might be saved. We must believe in Christ, follow and obey Him, and repent of our sins. How grateful I am to have a Mediator, who will pay my debt!
Lesson 4 of 45
Sometimes I think it would be nice to live in a world with no sickness, no sorrow, and no pain. What would such a world be like?
I’ll begin with the trivial: I wouldn’t be uncomfortably hot during the summer. Now, on hot days, I hope for a short summer and early autumn. Of course, I wouldn’t have any uncomfortably cold wintery days either. But, without the extreme weather, I wouldn’t appreciate spring and autumn weather. By eliminating unpleasant weather, pleasant weather gets very boring.
Then I think about a world void of sicknesses and pain. I’ve always been healthy and lacked major health problems. That has changed in the past four months. (Having a baby helps your body fall apart, I guess.) I would love to eliminate pain and sickness from my life! Ironically, though, it is only now that I’ve regularly experienced ill health that I recognize what a blessing it was to have had good health. Every day that I am not ill is a very good day (there still are plenty of those), and some days I feel great! By being ill, I appreciate so much more being well. (However, I really do look forward to not being ill on a regular basis.)
It might sound nice initially, but a world without sickness, sorrow, pain, and sin would lack all enjoyment as well.
In the beginning, Adam and Eve lived in such a world.
When they were first placed there, they were given two commandments:
And here lies the most complex irony: because the garden was a place of innocence, Adam and Eve couldn’t fulfill the first commandment without breaking the second.
When Adam and Eve did choose to partake of the fruit, they committed a transgression, not a sin. Because there was nothing inherently wrong with partaking of the fruit, it was not a sin to partake of it, even though it was a commandment not to.
I like this comparison: A parent tells a child to never cross the street. Does the parent have a reason for the rule? Yes. But is it inherently wrong to cross the street? No. At some point in his life, the child needs to cross the street.
Eve had a dilemma. She had to choose to sacrifice her painless world of innocence in order to gain experience and to bear children. She did not know what the experience would be because she’d never before experienced it. No human had experienced it. It’s hard to choose to experience the unknown. And yet, she wanted to gain experience and she wanted to raise children.
I feel close to her dilemma. A little more than three months ago, I went through incredible pains to bring a child into the world. It was horrible. I thought I was going to die. I wanted the pain to stop. I wanted to give up. Why can’t we have children without the pain?
Well, that’s not the plan, and I’m not talking about the lack of drugs. (I imagine childbirth is still quite painful with drugs.) There is much pain in raising a child, beyond childbirth. The plan of our Heavenly Father is to learn from experience. Experience sometimes entails fear and pain, but it also includes incredible happiness. There is supposed to be opposition as we experience the good.
Eve could only bear children by giving up innocence. I can’t speak for Eve, but because I went through that painful experience of childbirth:
I think childbirth is an incredible miracle. But it required going through a very challenging experience. It required that I not live in a perfect world, void of pain and sorrow.
Adam [and Eve] fell that man [and woman] might be, and men [and women] are that they might have joy. 2 Nephi 2:25
I’m grateful for the Fall of Adam and Eve. It meant I could come to earth. It meant I can bear children. It meant that I can have my joy multiplied as I Experience. And truly, my family is my greatest joy.
Lesson 3 of 45
My son’s face relaxes as his mouth grabs hold of the pacifier. He begins to suck and his mouth almost smiles. He stops squirming and his eyes close. I feel his body go partially limp in my arms. I know he likes that pacifier!
Then I watch his right hand begin its move toward his face. He likes to have his hand near his face. It’s a comfort to him. But I know what is coming. Sure enough, his long little fingers reach the pacifier and loop through the ring on the end of it.
“Paul, don’t do it!” I warn him. “If you move your hand back then you’ll pull the pacifier out of your mouth.”
His eyes twitch, but his lids remain shut. He continues sucking.
A door slams somewhere and Paul’s body starts. He jerks his right hand away from his face. Sure enough, just as I warned, the pacifier now remains in his right hand, a full three inches from his mouth.
His eyes open wide and he stares at me. His look is part shock and part betrayal. How could you? He seems to say. Then his bottom lip begins to jut out and his whole face begins its contortion. Here comes a cry!
You did it! I want to say. You pulled the pacifier out of your own mouth! You can control that arm; you can control that hand! You can choose to put the pacifier back in your mouth! Just move your hand.
But I know he is still too little to recognize his own power: he has agency and he doesn’t even realize it.
Being a mother is helping me see how Heavenly Father views us. Just as I want to help Paul understand how his tiny choices affect his life, Heavenly Father likewise wants me to understand how my more significant choices affect my life — and my eternal progression. Paul is not yet making any choices of eternal consequence: he is still unaccountable. But as the days and years go by, he will gain the ability to choose between right and wrong. He will learn.
When we lived with God in the premortal world, we understood that we could make choices. Heavenly Father provided an opportunity for each of us to come to the earth. We would choose how we would live. We knew we’d make mistakes. And Heavenly Father promised a Savior, who would pay for our sins, so that we could return to live with Him again.
Heavenly Father’s plan includes these principles of agency (See 2 Nephi 2:26-29).
In that premortal realm, we know that Satan wanted the glory as the Savior (See Moses 4:1-4 and Abraham 3:24-28). He wanted to save everyone, by making them choose right all the time. He wanted to eliminate principle — the freedom to choose. It sounds like a nice idea: we’d all be saved. There is pain in choosing wrong and some people won’t make it back. Wouldn’t it be great if all made it back?
In watching my son, I realize what a tragedy it would be if he couldn’t learn to control his own body. What if I forced him to move in a set way? He wouldn’t be able to move his arm toward his mouth if the result would be the pacifier coming out: he’d be forced to stay in one position. He would not be able to jolt in surprise when a door slammed. He’d sleep between set hours every day so he wouldn’t be uncomfortably tired ever. He would never choose again.
What a tragedy that would be! What would be the point of his existence? In watching him, I see how important it is that we are able to choose what we do. His choices are small and insignificant now, but as he grows, they will increase in significance. Yes, he will make wrong choices. But he will choose!
There is a reason we experience negative consequences: it is how we learn. It may be hard to anticipate negative consequences for our own choices. But looking on, I can anticipate my infant son’s dismay when he removes his own pacifier. He will be sad, and he is. I know that as he grows, his life will be full of such moments, most of them of much more significance. It will be sad to see wrong consequences. But he will eventually learn how to control his arms and hands. I know that as he gains control and accountability, he will begin to recognize how his actions are related to the consequences, and he’ll learn to make different actions.
Because we did accept Heavenly Father’s plan, we have the freedom to choose. I look on and anticipate the consequences of Paul’s choices, and Heavenly Father likewise looks on and anticipates the consequences of our choices. Heavenly Father has provided guidance for us so we can avoid the painful mistakes. By listening to the Spirit, by obeying to the prophet, and by reading the scriptures, we should recognize what the consequences of our choices are and what right is.
As I listen to my son’s crying, I recognize what a great blessing this gift of agency is! He can choose and therefore he can learn. We all can.
Lesson 2 of 45
