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.