Sometimes in life, we think that what we choose may not matter on an everyday scale, but there are always those choices that are better than others. Like Elder Oaks said in his October 2007 General Conference talk, there are things that are good, things that are better, and things that are Best. To illustrate this point, let’s talk about vending machines.
I have a love/hate relationship with vending machines. I love that I can eat junk food fast and rather cheaply; what I hate is what it does to my thighs. There is also very rarely something healthy in a vending machine, unless you count pretzels, but why would I waste my unhealthy vending machine choices on something that isn’t covered in chocolate?
Satan loves vending-machine choices. He loves to get us to mindlessly and quickly choose something that isn’t good for us. In a vending machine, we have only two choices: junk food or junk food. No matter what we pick, we aren’t eating something healthy that is good for our bodies. Satan convinces us that our choices really don’t matter, that sinning a little (or eating a little bag of Cheetos) won’t really affect us. The problem comes when we get accustomed to sinning or eating that little bag of Cheetos every day. We come out of our office, take a look at that vending machine, and know exactly what choice we want to make since we’ve done it so many times before.
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In order to make healthy food choices, and even good life choices, we have to plan ahead. We need to make constant conscious efforts to choose the better and the best. We will need to make that salad before we head out the door to work, or cut up that pineapple that’s been sitting on the counter for a week.
So it is with life choices. We need to be sure of what standards we will keep. We need to know what situations to avoid and what environments to stay away from before Satan tempts us with the same old sin again and again. We need to decide where we stand. If we make a conscious choice to avoid the unhealthy and the damaging, we can keep the adversary at bay and create an environment of strength and contentment.
Janette Beverley is a lover of life, family, music, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
She has a bachelor's degree in psychology with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy, and has five amazing children and one equally amazing husband.
Janette is excited to be writing for LDS Blogs and sharing her love and passion for finding the miraculous among the mundane, the awe-inspiring among the obvious, and the uplifting among the underestimated.
To read more of her work, you can visit Janette's personal blog here.
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