Saturday, November 25, 2000

Alma 29:4

"I ought not to harrow up in my desires, the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction."
Alma 29:4


This is interesting... kind of sobering too, to think that whatever we get, it is going to be what we want.  I mean, that's what we dream about when we are little kids, right?  Everything that we want seems like a great dream.  At least for me though, now that I am older, I don't really look at it that way.  Some of the things that I want at times are scary... and a lot of it turns out to be at the expense of other people.  Sometimes I am afraid of the things that I want... afraid of becoming that person all the time.  A truth that we often don't know when we are small... and often forget even as we grow... is that many times we want things that will hurt us.  Once as a child I wanted to eat moth balls... and I got my desire.  But I had to have my stomach pumped as a result.  We really *don't* know what is best for ourselves, and so often we ignore the advice of our loving heavenly parents, and go after something that will hurt us.  In the end, we all get what we want.  The trick is learning to want things that will help us to be happy in the long term.  Too often we think that we know what we are doing... we watch daddy turn on the stove, and so we reach up and do it ourselves.  But that desire we had to be like daddy, expressed in this particular way, can cause a lot of problems.  So, today... let's try to think about what we want, why we want it, and some appropriate ways of finding long-term peace and happiness.  If we can't think of anything, I'm sure God would love to help... ask away. :)

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