Choices

The second image better illustrates how my brain has processing choices for a good while. My good friend, Kathy B., gave a superb lesson today on the freedom to choose. She asked questions that we all know the answers to, but need to be reminded of. I liked this one, "Why is agency important?" It's important, we know, because choice is growth-promoting which is why we are here on Earth in the first place. One of the ladies is convinced she was a fence sitter in the pre-existence. She can fully see herself thinking Jesus' plan was good, but that Satan's plan where everyone is guaranteed to make it back was very appealing. We all giggled, but in reality, that plan that includes a guarantee that we'd return does sound pretty good, right? I would have liked plan C where we got to make choices and were guaranteed a return trip ticket. Hee, hee.

I do really, really well with some choices. Robbing a bank is a no brainer. Same with alcohol consumption or dishonesty. But I'm not so good with priorities, which in a sense are things that need to be ordered by importance. I would then be required to choose which is most important and go from there. Just because I can parrot back answers as to what should come first (personal prayer, scripture study, a sparkly home, etc.) doesn't mean I actually do those things.

Sherry L. Dew once wrote that Satan delights in our busy schedules. He knows that the busier we are, the more harried we'll be and likely to forget what's most important in the eternal perspective. I've known this for years, but am just now getting around to assimilating the information.

I recently turned down the opportunity to do some choreography for friends of mine who will be directing a musical. I was so flattered to have been asked, and excited at the prospect of doing something so creative. But after a few days of thinking about it, I realized that what my spirit has been trying to communicate to me for months now is that I need to turn my heart toward and focus on what is eternal. That is not to say that all of the other great things are bad. It is just that I have spent a great deal of time dabbling in the eternal while I commit my time elsewhere. I don't want to miss my kids growing up. I want to have the energy to go on dates with my husband instead of craving quiet Friday and Saturday nights at home. I want to read my scriptures and learn what the Lord has in store for me. I want to have time to maintain the organization that I am capable of maintaining in my home. I need to be physically healthy, and spiritually healthy too. When I am too busy and overwhelmed, I am tired and don't function well. Freeing up my time is the ticket to having the energy to accomplish the things I need to do.

This making choices thing is a personal adventure. No one person's choices match another's. It's about what is best for you and your situation. And I'm hoping that the time it takes to figure things out doesn't count against us. If it does, I may be in a heap of trouble. But I believe that the process and the journey are what it's all about, so I'm hoping that moving forward no matter how fast or slow is what we'll get credit for.