(Originally posted on January 3, 2016)
Life is all about choices.
Everything we do derives from this simple statement. From choosing which clothes to put on in the morning, how we get to work, to where we work, who we interact with, and what direction our life takes.
Knowing that, choice is arguably the greatest power that humankind has.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints... in other words, a Mormon. I was raised with it: I went to Primary (children's Sunday School), Sang in the choir, had pictures of Jesus and temples all over my walls. By many standards, I was brainwashed and conditioned to follow the Church and it's teachings.
However when I was 12, I was a part of a secular choir selected to travel across Europe singing in the great Cathedrals and churches, singing masses, concerts, and small performances (none of us counted, but in one month i estimate we had done almost 40 performances). Being the only Mormon, I was put in a position of having to defend my faith and the standards it espoused. It was there that I realized:
I didn't believe any of it.
Luckily, my parents had had the foresight to have a little military Book of Mormon in my luggage. I had read it off and on again, but i decided to read it more, to find out what I really believed. There, on a tour bus in the middle of Italy, I began to question everything. I kept reading, and kept defending my faith.
By then we had made it from Italy, into France, and finally into Spain. We had the opportunity of staying this particular day in El Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de Valentuñana in Uncastillo, Spain.
Life is all about choices.
Everything we do derives from this simple statement. From choosing which clothes to put on in the morning, how we get to work, to where we work, who we interact with, and what direction our life takes.
Knowing that, choice is arguably the greatest power that humankind has.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints... in other words, a Mormon. I was raised with it: I went to Primary (children's Sunday School), Sang in the choir, had pictures of Jesus and temples all over my walls. By many standards, I was brainwashed and conditioned to follow the Church and it's teachings.
However when I was 12, I was a part of a secular choir selected to travel across Europe singing in the great Cathedrals and churches, singing masses, concerts, and small performances (none of us counted, but in one month i estimate we had done almost 40 performances). Being the only Mormon, I was put in a position of having to defend my faith and the standards it espoused. It was there that I realized:
I didn't believe any of it.
Luckily, my parents had had the foresight to have a little military Book of Mormon in my luggage. I had read it off and on again, but i decided to read it more, to find out what I really believed. There, on a tour bus in the middle of Italy, I began to question everything. I kept reading, and kept defending my faith.
By then we had made it from Italy, into France, and finally into Spain. We had the opportunity of staying this particular day in El Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de Valentuñana in Uncastillo, Spain.
In a small room facing the hilltop town, I finished the Book of Mormon. There, with the Catholic crucifix gazing at me, I prayed to know if it was true. The final answer to that prayer that day wouldn't come for almost another year, but something else happened.
I chose to believe in it.
And 7 years later, I found myself in Buenos Aires, Argentina, telling as many people as I could about it, so they too could make a choice to believe. Some chose to believe, some didn't.
But they still made a choice.
I also made a choice. A choice that set my life on a new path, towards a wonderful future. Which begs the question:
What choices will you make today?
Sincerely,
An Average Nerd
I chose to believe in it.
And 7 years later, I found myself in Buenos Aires, Argentina, telling as many people as I could about it, so they too could make a choice to believe. Some chose to believe, some didn't.
But they still made a choice.
I also made a choice. A choice that set my life on a new path, towards a wonderful future. Which begs the question:
What choices will you make today?
Sincerely,
An Average Nerd