Our Choices

“Life offers you two precious gifts—one is time, the other freedom of choice, the freedom to buy with your time what you will. You are free to exchange your allotment of time for thrills. You may trade it for base desires. You may invest it in greed. …

“Yours is the freedom to choose. But these are no bargains, for in them you find no lasting satisfaction.

“Every day, every hour, every minute of your span of mortal years must sometime be accounted for. And it is in this life that you walk by faith and prove yourself able to choose good over evil, right over wrong, enduring happiness over mere amusement. And your eternal reward will be according to your choosing.

“A prophet of God has said: ‘Men are that they might have joy’—a joy that includes a fullness of life, a life dedicated to service, to love and harmony in the home, and the fruits of honest toil—an acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—of its requirements and commandments.

“Only in these will you find true happiness, the happiness which doesn’t fade with the lights and the music and the crowds." ~Elder Richard L. Evans

I really like the first line of this quote: "Life offers you two precious gifts—one is time, the other freedom of choice, the freedom to buy with your time what you will." This is a great perspective on the gifts of life and agency we have been given. With the gift of this life we are given the ability to choose for ourselves what we want to do with our allotted time, but if we choose wrong it may cost more time than we were expecting. It may even cost us our freedom. As President Monson says, "Although in our journey we will encounter forks and turnings in the road, we simply cannot afford the luxury of a detour from which we may never return."

If we use our allotted time wisely then we will live happy and prosperous lives.