I’ve gone back and forth trying to decide if I should really post these thoughts or not....As you can see I made the choice to post them. But before you read any further please note, this post is not directed to anyone specific. They are just my thoughts and feelings and hoping if I put them in black and white, I might be able to make more sense of them. I have been thinking a lot about FREE AGENCY, our human right to choose. Now, I am one who has made many wrong choices throughout my life and I have been thinking lately…..Why did I make those bad decisions? Why do we, as humans, make decisions we KNOW will have negative consequences? Do we just not care? Do we not believe there will be a consequence to our actions? Is it too hard to make the right choices sometimes? Do we accept the consequence thinking it’s not that bad….I can fix it later? And, I just don’t know the answer!!

I found an article by Pres. Thomas S. Monson that was published in the New Era back in 1973, where he described the Three R’s of Free Agency-RIGHT, RESPONSIBILITY, and RESULTS. He made the following points…

1. We have been given the right to choose by a wise and loving Heavenly Father.

2. We also have the responsibility to choose. We cannot be neutral…The Lord knows this and Lucifer knows this.

3. In addition to the right of choice and the responsibility of choice,we must consider the results of our choices.

How many times have you made decisions without considering the results? We have been taught right from wrong since we were little children-so why are there times when the line between the two is blurry and hard to see? Especially, when others around us can! How many times have you wondered to yourself, why does he do that? I see so many people, including myself, wasting their free agency on things that just don’t matter…things that will ultimately make them unhappy. And how many times have you been blessed when you made the right decision? Obviously, no one is perfect and we all make mistakes but some days I just shake my head and think, why did I do that? That was so dumb!

“I testify that when we choose to do that which is right, the results of our choices will bring joy and happiness to our souls…” -Thomas S. Monson