Choices and Consequences (7/20/2009)

This morning, I would like to share a thought with you from a talk given by President Spencer W. Kimball:

"With agency one can murder, commit all the moral, sexual sins, steal, lie, use drugs, be unkind; he may hate, envy, swear, or do whatever he would like. One can hate, or one can love. One can curse, or one can bless. One can live in loneliness, or one can be promiscuous. One can help and assist, or one can hinder. One can blaspheme, or one can honor and bless and pray. One can believe in himself, or he can believe in an overall omniscient Being. One can do as he pleases. Free agency is his. Or he can live his life with the great Redeemer as the center of his life."

After he shared the choices that we could make using our agency, President Kimball went on to explain:

"One can touch a hot wire, but he cannot stave off the certain death that results. One can step in front of a powerful oncoming train, but he cannot set aside the mangling that will follow. One can jump from a skyscraper, but he cannot control the results and save his body from the crushing effects of the fall and the abrupt contact with the hard pavement below."

There are those who would encourage us to break the covenants we have made to follow the Savior. They would tell us that by following the Gospel plan, we are limiting ourselves with respect to the fun we could have or the circles in which we could socialize.

What is important to recall, however, is the fact that while we are able to choose for ourselves the path we will follow, we are not able to choose the consequence that comes from our actions. I hope that as we make decisions we will stop and consider not only the immediate benefit that can be derived from those decisions, but the long term consequences of our choices.