Agency and Opposites

I still remember going up to the mini-pulpit in my Church Primary class when I was about 8-years-old. I had been asked to share the scripture that day.

I read 2 Nephi 2:13. It was my favorite scripture. Sometimes when I look back at this verse, I wonder if I only liked this verse because of how logical it was, or maybe just for the fact that it is in 2 Nephi and is at the beginning of the Book of Mormon, as I had not yet read too far.

Here it is:

2 Nephi 2:13

"And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away."

But when I look back on it, I think there was something more to the reason this verse was meaningful to me. Yes, it was relatively clear, but it made me think and marvel about God's bigger plan for us.

I am grateful for the doctrine of opposites. I am grateful that because there is death, sadness, pain, and darkness, there is also life, joy, comfort, and light. I am grateful that there is righteousness, happiness, and a real, true God.

I am grateful to know that the pains of life really do help us to recognize the joys of life. And I am grateful for God's wisdom in letting His Son die for us so we could have spiritual and physical life eternally.

I believe that every single bad thing we experience in this life is for a reason. I believe that we will experience some bitterness in life to know the sweet. I have, oddly enough, felt that some of the darkest times of my life were the times when I felt the Savior's Atonement at work most in my life, because my trials turned me to Him. And that is truly sweet.

I believe that it is essential that our Heavenly Father allows life and death, good and evil, darkness and light to exist so that we can have the better things in our eternal lives if only we choose them.

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Agency, or the gift that we have ALL been given of the ability to choose, isn't something I have fully understood in the past. I still don't fully understand it, but I am starting to feel a lot more grateful and marveled by it.

I am an indecisive person. It is not uncommon for me to wish that someone could make my breakfast cereal choices for me, or that my Heavenly Father can tell me everything that is morally right for me to do.

But at the same time, the ability that I have to choose is an amazing gift. It empowers me, because it means that when I do something good, it was my decision to do so. If the Savior's power is at work in my life, I chose to let Him in. And if I am doing something to obey my Heavenly Father, I am doing it because I wanted to. Basically, agency adds power to everything that we do. I think that's beautiful. In each choice that we make, we write a life story that we can be proud of. Like the prophet Nephi, we can say, "I...have written what I have written, and I esteem it to be of great worth." {2 Nephi 33:3}

I think this passage beautifully describes the gift of agency that our Heavenly Father has given us:

"And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free.

He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you."

{Helaman 14:30-31, Book of Mormon}

I am grateful that God loves and respects me enough that He allows me to choose. I feel like our ability to choose can make our relationship with Him that much more sweet, because it is something we can choose to develop. Although He is the most powerful Being in the universe, He doesn't force us to do anything, which I think is amazing. He is letting us to choose to take the steps towards Him so that we can learn how to use our agency to bring about good, like He does.

God loves you! He trusts you to make good decisions and will help you to do so. The moment you turn to Him for repentance or peace, trust that He will meet you there. He will help you to understand how you can use your agency to accomplish good. I know that God trusts us and wants us to learn to bring about good with our own decisions, but I also believe that He can add needed power to and make much more out of our efforts to do good if we turn to Him. I have seen this in my life.

Love you!

Abby