February 11, 2000

All great events turn upon one person doing the right or wrong thing. The masses may follow, but every great and good act started with one person.

Joseph Smith asked God "Which church shall I join?" Martin Luther had his treatise. You, today and every day, will be asked to choose many times. It is important for yourself and the world that you choose right. The old world thought only linearly (i.e. big things required big decisions), but today we understand the effect of chaos mathematics and non-linearity of social dynamics (i.e. little things can have big effects).

Thus every choice WILL have lasting consequences. This should not paralyze us, but rather free us. Now all we have to do is make the small courageous choices.

God understood this when he gave us the gift of agency (choice). All other creatures operate only on instinct, not really weighing right or wrong. Yes, a dog can learn that if he does a certain thing he will be beaten, but that is not really choice.

Choice is made by deciding what is right versus what is wrong, based on your own ideals. Many times there is only a choice among many less-than-perfect answers. But through making choices based on your own principles you grow.

With this ability to make choices being the greatest gift, it is also the biggest problem with the world. You see, God did not just give agency to the perfect. (Or else who would have it?) Thus other's choices can negatively impact the whole world. (Thus the scripture about the sins of the fathers being visited upon sons). Thus all pain and suffering are God's fault, but only because he empowered all humans with choice.

But without the risk of giving all of us agency, we could never become our potential. Thus, with the possibility of evil choices comes the overwhelming possibility of good choices. This is one of the ways God acts in history, through individuals using their agency by choosing right and wrong at billions and billions of points in time.

Today and every day He empowers you to represent him and choose the right.