Agency (2/10/2010)

This past Sunday, the Gospel Principles lesson we discussed was lesson 4, "Freedom to Choose." They used an analogy in the lesson that I shared with my children this week in Family Home Evening and wanted to share with you today:

"Imagine seeing a sign on the seashore that reads: 'Danger—whirlpool. No swimming allowed here.' We might think that is a restriction. But is it? We still have many choices. We are free to swim somewhere else. We are free to walk along the beach and pick up seashells. We are free to watch the sunset. We are free to go home. We are also free to ignore the sign and swim in the dangerous place. But once the whirlpool has us in its grasp and we are pulled under, we have very few choices. We can try to escape, or we can call for help, but we may drown."

With the diagnosis of my daughter, there has been a lot of discussion about my wife's father who also had diabetes. He was 15 years old when he was diagnosed, and he fought his parents and the doctors about the restrictions they were placing on him. His mother says that his attitude was one of "If my friends are going for burgers and shakes, then so am I," regardless of the potential harm it would cause his body. Now I am not entirely familiar with all of the medical causes behind his early death, but I have to wonder if he had chosen to take the advice of the doctors if he would have been able to be there when I married his daughter.

Agency is a great gift in that allows us to choose what path we will take. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to choose the consequences of our actions, so we must be careful and heed the commandments, as illustrated in the whirlpool example. The best part of having our agency, however, is that it will allow us to one day feel the satisfaction that will come when we recognize that we have attained perfection through our own good choices.