Choices

Life does not begin on earth.  Life began with God, in heaven.  God is the Father of our spirits.  He organized our intelligence into spirit bodies in the likeness of our earthly bodies and likewise in the likeness of His own body.  As our Father, He wants what all loving parents want.  He wants His children to be happy.  This happiness, to be true happiness, must stem from within and be independent of all temporal things, else our happiness will be temporal too.  And, with all temporal things, they must all fade away.  

To find true, independent happiness we must want it, seek it and own it.  That ownership does not mean we can wrap it up, put it in our pocket and call on it when ever we desire.  It means that when we act, and claim our lives we will develop our character based on the dictates of our own conscience.  Our character will define our happiness.

We are all different.  That is part of it.  An essential aspect of eternal happiness is independence.  The "dictates of our own conscience" can often be subjective.  The Light of Christ is given to all men that they may know good and evil.  We however have the opportunity to ignore that light and mold our conscience based our personal wants and desires.  In this way we are agents unto ourselves.  

As agents, we are given to opportunity to choose.  We can choose in a way that is empowering, enlightening, and comforting.  The choices that are born from a marriage of the heart and the mind.  Choices that stem from belief and give purpose in faith.  Those choices define us.

Choices of this magnitude are not often made in todays world.  It has become common place to choice in the moment, for the moment.  So often we asked to choose or commit to something that is of little or no eternal worth yet we are required to enter into binding agreements that are often either not read, misunderstood, or simply not taken seriously.  We find this phenomenon in our on-line commitments, software licenses, store rewards programs, and many others.  We are being taught to take little notice of what we commit to, of what we say.  We are taught to look at how the world would view something from a legal point of view.  If I can't be easily prosecuted for something said or done, than it's not that bad (if at all).

Once upon a time, I believe men took great care in what they committed themselves too.  They believed that their integrity was as indispensable, their most valuable asset.  Not only this, they were a God fearing people who believed God would hold them accountable for what they said and did.

We must stand up and take control of our lives.  No longer allow ourselves to be moved and swayed with every new thing that comes along.  To commit our lives to mediocrity.  To spend our strength for that which does not satisfy.  To give value to that of no worth.  

A man cannot be saved in ignorance.  This does not only apply to knowledge.  Knowledge is a book until it is accepted, internalized and applied.  All men know the truth in their hearts.  This often does not present itself in coherent thoughts of doctrine of instruction.  It is often manifest in its infantile stage and a comprehension or understanding of how things ought to be.  We are then left to interpret this understanding in a way that is meaningful to our everyday lives.

So what of happiness?