"Choices": Random, heartfelt, thoughts.

(WARNING: This post may come across as random and scattered but it's basically just my thoughts as of late, spattered into a post.)

The other day I randomly started thinking about choices. Yes, choices! We all have them. We make them everyday whether it's as insignificant as "Should I accessorize this shirt with this necklace?" or as important as "Can I really afford this much of a car payment?" We each are faced with choices day in and day out.

My faith teaches me that my ability to choose for myself, or free agency, is one of the greatest gifts we have. In fact it's a gift that I know we each fought for in the pre-existence. I know there was a great conflict in heaven before we came to earth and we were asked whether to follow our Savior Jesus Christs' plan and chose for ourselves. Or, we could choose Satan's plan and be restricted to always make correct choices. Satan wanted salvation to automatically be given to everyone, without regard to agency or dedication.

There was a great war between those who wanted to follow Christ's plan and those who wished to follow Satan's plan. In Revelations 12:7 it says "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon...". Those who persisted in following Satan's plan were cast out of Heaven without the chance to pass through mortality and became subjects to Satan. Revelations 12:9 says, "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

This conflict in heaven led us to choose...our first choice really. There was no "fence sitting" or neutral zone in the decision then. And there is no neutral zone in our decisions now.

I remember an object lesson back in Primary (church class for children ages 3-11) that really stuck with me. The teacher had a piece of craft string that she hung end to end, across the primary room. The string was white and in the center of the string was a tiny black dot, small enough that a fine point sharpie pen would have had to make it. The teacher told us that everything before the black dot represented the pre-existence and everything after the black dot was the hereafter. And the tiny, almost unnoticeable, black dot was mortality, or our life here on earth. In comparison to the life we have lived before mortality and the life we will live after mortality, our mortal existence happens in the blink of an eye.

I have been reminded lately through people I am close with and others I am just acquainted with, that Satan's temptations are real and they are dangerous to our eternal outcome. Now, I am no where close to being perfect and I don't notice others mistakes so that I can place myself on a platform and pat myself on the back. The truth is we are all in need of our Saviors atonement, or else we wouldn't be here. But lately I have seen people make choices that I did not think they were capable of making, and it makes me wonder at what point their attitudes, standards, hopes and values changed.

Mortality is not the time to throw it all away. Remember that primary object lesson I mentioned earlier about how short our mortal lives are compared to eternity? If you were the star player on a basketball team and you played 3 amazing quarters. The 3rd quarter ended with a guaranteed win for your team if you just kept playing your hardest and giving it all you had. But instead, you decided that it wasn't really that important to keep trying because your team was already ahead, you were tired and you forgot how hard you had worked the 3 previous quarters. So you just sat the last quarter out, not realize how easy it would be for the other team to gain the lead without your help. Sadly, in the last quarter your team ended up losing. That 4th quarter is also like mortality. It is not the time to give up everything you have worked for.

I know the world we live in today doesn't condone everything I've just said. We live in a time where "being yourself" is most important, even when whatever person you are being is contrary to Heavenly Father's plan. Heavenly Father did not send us here to give into the natural tendencies of humanity. He sent us here to overcome the natural man and become perfected beings. In 1 Corinthians 2:14 it says "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

Which ever of my friends read this post, no matter what religion you follow or beliefs you have, I hope that you can see how important it is to stand out from the rest of the world. Be different! Hold to your beliefs and values, even if they are no longer "popular" with the culture that has consumed our world. This life is not the time to give up everything that we have worked and fought so hard for. I don't say any of this out of judgement, but out of love. Love for my friends and acquaintances who I see making choices that will undoubtedly lead to unhappiness or regret. It's NEVER too late to make a change for the better in your life.

So, I basically just threw up a bunch of random thoughts about choices. But in all fairness I did warn you it was a little random. But it is all completely heartfelt.