Choose to Choose

 "There's a wideness in God's mercy

Like the wideness of the sea

There's a kindness in God's justice,

Which is more than liberty

There is welcome for the sinner

And more graces for the good

There is mercy with the Savior

There is healing in His blood

But we make God's love too narrow

By false limits of our own

And we magnify its strictness

With a zeal, God will not own

For the love of God is broader

Then the measures of the mind,

And the heart of the Eternal

Is most wonderfully kind.

If our love were but more simple,

We should rest upon God's word,

And our lives would be illumined

By the presence of our God."

— There's a Wideness in God's Mercy

I heard this song earlier this week and have not been able to get its message out of my head and heart. The past few months of my life have been jammed packed full of learning experiences, both painful and pleasant. I have learned so much about family and how to have better relationships and what harms the family and what can help the family. I've learned about the world's view on the importance of families and how vastly different that view is from our Father in Heaven's view.

Something that has been coming clearer to me through both my semester full of classes about family and through the message of this song is that we have a choice. God's plan, the Plan of Salvation, is based so much on our ability to make choices. We chose to come here and experience this life and while we are here on this Earth, we continue to have the power to choose so many things. Each day is a choice to progress or stay stagnant, to change or to remain the same. Throughout the day, you make choices; from what clothes you want to wear to how you are going to interact with others that you come across. Some of these choices are major while others have little to no consequence. The choice still remains ours though.

Because we have the ability to choose, I think that sometimes we forget that each of the choices we make has consequences as well. I would also say that we have the tendency to give away our agency to accept an easier to bear explanation. If we get to decide so much, it is difficult to think that the reason why our marriage is struggling may in fact be because of our poor choices. Or the explanation as to why our relationship with a sister or friend is strained. How much of a difference would be created in our relationships with others if we fully embraced the power of choice that is within each of us? Why is it that when we speak of the most important things, the development, and maintenance of the family, we put limitations on the power we have to decide to make what we want of it?

What would happen if each of us decided that we were going to do all that we could to preserve our family? That we would give anything in order for the relationships in our family to be healthy and strong? What if we chose to ignore offense and seek after greater understanding? What if we sought to develop harmony instead of simply trying to be the one that is right? The lyrics to the song talk about how we limit God's mercy, thinking that we are too much the sinner to ever possibly be a saint. What could change if we were to cease putting limitations on God, ourselves or those around us? The most beautiful thing about the Plan of Salvation, in my opinion, is the principle of repentance. No matter the mistake, God can take that mistake and turn it into a lesson learned, and a person changed.

I will always be incredibly thankful for an earthly family that loves me and a Father in Heaven who shows me his love more than I could possibly describe or explain. I know that He would have us choose the better part and to be active in our choices, not passive. Make the decision to choose your family above anything else that would harm your family. Choose them above hate, misunderstanding, laziness... chose your family. <3