“I will choose good over evil and will accept responsibility for my decisions” (Young Women Personal Progress, p40).
Every day we are faced with choices. Some are easy: what to watch on TV or DVD, what books we read, saving a little of the money we’ve earned. Other choices can change the course of our lives: what friends we choose, who we date, if we will remain morally clean.
As teens of today you are frequently faced with choices your parents and grandparents never did. My mother recently told me that anorexia, something we frequently hear about, wasn’t even a concept when she was a teen. Now it’s the first thing a young woman will turn to when she doesn’t feel as though she has the world’s concept of a “perfect” body. Yet the consequences of this disease are horrendous, at times deadly.
Consequence is a word rarely used by those who would encourage us to make bad choices. Smoking can lead to yellowed teeth, emphysema, and even lung cancer. But the so-called friend who wants you to “just try one” isn’t listing all of the possible consequences. Credit cards are frequently tossed through the mail, even to teens. But they don’t come with warnings to not spend more than you can afford to pay back, guides to help you see just how much you’d have to pay in interest, and how using credit cards recklessly has caused many to lose their cars, homes, and even families.
Every choice we make will lead us on a different course. What we need to do is decide which path we want to take, and be prepared to accept the consequences. If you choose to dress a little less modestly, how will it change your actions, your speech, and the way others perceive you? If you choose friends who hold the same basic morals, values, and ideals, how will this strengthen your own resolve to stay strong in important things?
Even our little decisions can lead to big outcomes. It’s important for us to begin this method of bringing the Lord in on all our decisions starting with the little ones, so that when the big ones hit we’ll be much more prepared to choose the right.
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve; . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
This is the scripture the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chose to put with the Young Women Value of Choice and Accountability. Through it our teen girls are encouraged to learn how to make decisions that will lead them further along the path the Lord would choose for them, rather than down whatever frightening and destructive path Satan would have them take.
Several of the Value Experiences in the Personal Progress program help guide them along the way. #5 brings in several scriptures to help them learn about the Holy Ghost.
“With a parent, Young Women leader, or friend, read and discuss Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 14:26; 16:13; Galatians 5:22-25; 2 Nephi 32:5; Moroni 10:4-5; and Doctrine and Covenants 11:12-14. Then record in your journal how the Holy Ghost can help you make good decisions in your daily life. Pray for and live worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost.”
In value experience #7 the young women are encouraged to practice money management, but they are also given insight into the gift of agency.
“Making choices is part of Heavenly Father’s plan for us. Read Moses 4:14, 7:32 (found in the Pearl of Great Price), and 2 Nephi 9:51. Establish a pattern of wise money management by making a budget for saving and spending your money, including the payment of tithing. Live within your budget for at least three months. Set priorities that allow you to meet your most important needs before satisfying your wants.”
Learning to make good choices, and learning to involve the Lord, is only the first part of this value. Few people these days choose to take responsibility for their bad decisions and would rather blame everyone including God when it’s time to accept the consequences. Being accountable for the outcome of our choices is a hard lesson to learn, but vital for our spiritual growth. It’s an important link in training teens to become competent adults.
We have all been given agency, but it’s not free. It comes with a price. If we decide to make wrong choices, we must be prepared to pay that price. Choosing to make the right choices may not always be the easy path, but it is the one that will keep us close to the Lord.
