Free Forever, to Act for Themselves - December 28, 2014

Our last lesson of 2014 was given by Tina D. using Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk Free, Forever to Act for Themselves about agency given to man.

"It is God’s will that we be free men and women enabled to rise to our full potential both temporally and spiritually." (Free, Forever to Act for Themselves)

'[from "Henry V"]"Every subject’s duty is the king’s; but every subject’s soul is his own." comes down to "who bears responsibility for what happens in our lives? When things go wrong?' (Free, Forever to Act for Themselves)

As children get older you hope they draw on what you tech them but they have their agency.

"But God intends that His children should act according to the moral agency He has given them" (Free, Forever to Act for Themselves)

"Nor will His prophets accept the role of “puppet master” in God’s place." (Free, Forever to Act for Themselves)

You may feel like a puppet master of your children's lives but sometimes we need to let them make mistakes to learn and use their agency.

'We should (and we do) rejoice in the God-ordained plan that permits us to make choices to act for ourselves and experience the consequences, or as the scriptures express it, to “taste the bitter, that [we] may know to prize the good.” ' (Free, Forever to Act for Themselves)

• Why must we taste the bitter to understand?

Thanks Tina for a great lesson!