Doctrine and Covenants 7:8
I was thinking about choice and preference here... I knew a homeless guy in New York once and I remember buying him a toothbrush one day, and it took quite a while because he didn't want one that looked "girly" and most of the toothbrushes were in bright colors that didn't seem to make the grade. :) I also remember my own personal prayer for a very specific stuffed turtle, which was miraculously answered even though there were probably billions of things that would have been better to pray for. God still heard, and loved, and answered.
Perhaps we've all heard the phrase "beggars can't be choosers," but haven't we also heard Christ's words, "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"? We allow ourselves preferences, and choices between things that we don't like and things that we do like. I also think God goes out of his way to honor our choices and preferences in our lives, and provide a path to happiness that is both straight and narrow *and* customized for each of us in our individual personalities and desires.
This isn't to say that we shouldn't make do with what we have, because we often need to... and we certainly need to be careful to be grateful for what we have. I'll readily agree that if I am dissatisfied with anything but a nine hundred million dollar mansion on a private island, perhaps I need to step back and rethink my perspective, and put more emphasis in my life on spiritual things rather than material. And the same goes for physical things. We need to learn to temper our desires and make sure that God always comes first and we are letting our spiritual desires be ascendant over our physical desires, because letting our physical desires rule our lives can get us really messed up.
That said though, I think it is okay, and kind, to think about others and the specific things that make them happy. Not everyone needs to like the same things in order to be a good person. Let's give to others according to their desires when we can. Let's not dismiss others' preferences any more than we dismiss our own.
Today, let's remember how much God loves us, and how well he answers our prayers even when they are deeply personal and may not matter at all to someone else. Let's train ourselves to desire better things, but also remember to honor individual choice and encourage thoughtful opinions and decision-making as we all learn who we are, and how to choose and become. Most of all, let's try to love as God loves, respecting what individually brings us joy.
No comments:
Post a Comment