Choices

Choices! A simple word, a verb that's always present, every second, minute, hour, and day of our life. When I was young, I had this feeling that I'm tired of studying, and I'm very eager to finish my education because I thought by then when I got a job I'll be freed from making choices and I could just live my life the way I envisioned it. WRONG! Being a grown up doesn't mean I'd be free from making choices and tests. As grown up, you'll be given more privilege and more responsibility to make choices. The choices we're faced kind of evolves too, the younger we are the choices are simple and it gets more complicated as we age. However there is a beauty in it, it is indeed a privilege and a gift to us. Right choices will make us happy and happier, wrong choices makes our life miserable and lead us to more problems and more complicated life.

In marriage, it is not enough to make one right choice. When we are young we are encouraged to make the right choice of marrying in the temple. But if we wanted a happy family life, we must understand that it does not only begin and end in the temple marriage ceremony. As we live our life, we are faced with many choices, often hard to make, hard to contemplate, hard to figure out what is right or wrong thing to do. And some of the most difficult choices often involves timer, when your timer's up and you haven't made your choice you don't only forfeit the possible score of being happy but you also have to face the consequence as if you made the wrong choice.

Choice can be a privilege to live a happy life, or it can be a hard task that could lead to devastation or miserable life. The way we take each choice determines how we should feel in the end. It determines our integrity as a person. Adversity is very cunning and will always try to tempt us or beguile us to choose wrong, but I'm grateful for the guiding principles given to us or the so called "standards" which guides us as we make some of the most important choices in our lives. The courage to make right choices in spite of what others may think, or say about us will make us feel proud and happy for our choices in the long run.

I love and adore the story about the 2000 stripling warriors. this is how they were described:

“They were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.

“Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” (Alma 53:20–21).

and to think these warriors were young, inexperienced, and yet they fought with so much courage, faith and they were men of integrity. And through the way they conducted themselves, they frightened even their enemies.

The courage to make right choices is not dependent on age or any other status. It is a gift given to all of us no matter how young, or whatever our educational attainment maybe. From the choices we make we reap the consequences, and that will determine wherever we're going be it the right path to happiness and success or the path that leads to misery- it takes courage, its all our decision.

Who Wants To Be Rich?

If you ask people to raise their hands if they want to be rich, everyone will raise their hand. If you ask them who wants to receive money everyone will raise their hand. If you ask them who wants to work and earn money some will raise their hand. And still if you ask them, who wants to work hard to earn money, only few will raise their hand.

When I was young, I remember a story often told by my mother. It's about a red hen who found a grain of corn ready to be planted. She then asked her household members (A pig, a duck, and a cat) to help her plant the corn seeds, but no one dared to help her and they said they were all busy. So she planted the corn seeds by herself.

When it was time to water the corns, she asked her household again, "who wants to help me water the plants?", but no one dared help her, they all said they have things to do and they were busy.

The red hen did a great job taking care of the corn plants, and soon it was ready for harvest. She asked her household again if they could help her harvest the corn. But everyone said they can't help her and they have things to do. So the red hen, harvested all the corn and brought it in their kitchen.

The following day, she told her household members that she finished harvesting the corn and it is ready to be cooked. She asked them again who wants to help her cook the corns, the pig, the duck and the cat all said they were busy and can't help her in the kitchen. So the red hen cooked the corn by herself. And as soon as she's finished cooking she said, "its time to eat", and the kitchen smelled so good. The household members gathered together in the kitchen, the pig, duck, and cat. All of them wants to join with the red hen eat the delicious meal.

Hard work is a virtue. We cannot expect to be rich by the end of the year without hard work. Although adversity is very cunning, easy earned money which includes those from gambling will never give us the happiness and fulfillment from the rewards we get for working hard. I still believe that we are because of what we do, our choices, hard work, and perseverance are some of the things that determines success and happiness in life.

Everyone wants to be successful but only few becomes such. The problem with many is that they know what they wanted to be but they fail to establish their course by working hard on how to get to their goal. They know what they want and yet they feel its "too hard" and find many excuses not to finish what they've started, and some are even too lazy to start it.

There is beauty in work, there are lots of joy after work. As a mother, I discovered the limitless opportunity to use the hand and the mind, and it does bring so much joy to be able to create something.

There's so much opportunity to work, if we would open our minds and learn to love the beauty of hard work.

They said there is no royal road to education, and I believe the same thing is true with success. There is no easy way to be successful. Those who attained success are the ones who truly learned to love work, and who have forsaken idleness. We can find so much excuses not to work just like the cat, duck and the pig in the story, and in the end find ourselves starving. While those who worked really hard can enjoy something good and special, just like the red hen, from their hard work by the end of the day.

"Without hard work nothing grows but weeds".-G. Hinckley