The Gate that Swings

It's late and every muscle in my body is screaming at me to go to bed. But I just want to quickly post just a thought or two about choices. Nothing profound, just thoughts.

Over the years of my life I've been rather intrigued and often deeply saddened by choices that people--friends, family, and others--have made, and the paths that those choices have taken them down. Each path changing the character and soul of the individual. As my life weaves its tapestry of experiences, and its shuttle moves across the loom of time, I cross paths with friends of bygone years. Some have surprised me with the heights that they have achieved--actualizing the potential of greatness within and possessing a presence that is deep and profound. Some have left me reeling--flatlining in spirit and and a far cry from what they were and could still be. Such as a friend I came in contact with tonight.

President Thomas S. Monson of the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once stated, "Years ago, I discovered a thought which is true. It is this: The gate of history swings on small hinges, and so do people’s lives." As the gate of our lives swings on one choice, it leads to another, and then another, and then to a series of choices, which then opens to the orchard of the fruits of our life--some find bitter, some find sweet.

Through some of my own, recent personal experiences, I have gained a much deeper understanding of the importance of the agency which empowers these choices. The crux of our existence is to learn how to wield the God-given gift of agency. This gift and our freedom to exercise its power is central to our Creator's plan. All that He does for us, plans for us, reveals to us and teaches us delicately preserves that agency. All so that we might be agents unto ourselves--honing, if we will, the characteristics of deity that lay latent within each of us, and ultimately returning to the God who cherishes us individually. In His perfect love, God will never force our hand or usurp our agency, but allows us to become what we will.

My heart hurts--quite literally sometimes, and especially tonight--for those who don't see this. I can't say that my vision is perfect, but I recognize the small and seemingly simple choices that have lead to some of my life's greatest experiences. I wish tonight for the gates of the lives of my friends and family to hinge on the choices that lead them down paths and into the orchards of the sweetest fruits that our existence has to offer. Our Father in Heaven works for it, and in their goodness, they deserve it.