Friday, October 31, 2014

Choose

Choose good friends!
We tend to become like those whom we admire. Just as in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic account “The Great Stone Face,” we adopt the mannerisms, the attitudes, even the conduct of those whom we admire—and they are usually our friends. Associate with those who, like you, are planning not for temporary convenience, shallow goals, or narrow ambition but rather for those things that matter most—even eternal objectives.
https://www.lds.org/youth/article/how-to-choose-good-friends?lang=eng

Choose wisely!
I believe it is of particular importance in our day, when Satan is raging in the hearts of men in so many new and subtle ways, that our choices and decisions be made carefully, consistent with the goals and objectives by which we profess to live. We need unequivocal commitment to the commandments and strict adherence to sacred covenants.
~Elder Quentin L Cook
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/choose-wisely?lang=eng

Choose eternal life!
…we have only two eternal choices, each with eternal consequences: choose to follow the Savior of the world and thus choose eternal life with our Heavenly Father or choose to follow the world and thus choose to separate ourselves from Heavenly Father eternally. We cannot successfully choose both the safety of righteousness and the dangers of worldliness.
~Randall K Bennett
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/choose-eternal-life?lang=eng

Choose charity!
”charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever”

Do we judge one another? Do we criticize each other for individual choices, thinking we know better, when in fact we rarely understand another’s unique circumstance or individual inspiration? Have we ever said, “She works outside the home.” Or, “Her son didn’t serve a mission.” Or, “She’s too old for a calling.” Or, “She can’t—she’s single.” Such judgments, and so many others like them, rob us of the good part, that pure love of Christ.

We also lose sight of that good part when we compare ourselves to others. Her hair is cuter, my legs are fatter, her children are more talented, or her garden’s more productive—sisters, you know the drill. We just can’t do that. We cannot allow ourselves to feel inadequate by focusing on who we aren’t instead of on who we are! …We simply cannot criticize, gossip, or judge and keep the pure love of Christ.
~Bonnie D Parkin
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2003/10/choosing-charity-that-good-part?lang=eng

Choose not to be offended!
When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy,embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense.However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.
~David A Bednar
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/10/and-nothing-shall-offend-them?lang=eng

Some choices may seem more important than others, but no choice is insignificant.
  
~Thomas S Monson

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