Studies show that teens who drink are much more likely to become an alcoholic than people who wait until they are adults. If you start drinking when you are thirteen, you have a 45 percent chance of becoming an alcoholic. That means almost half of thirteen-year-olds who drink become alcoholics. Everyone likes to think nothing bad can happen to them, but the truth is that bad things can happen to anyone. No one is so special he or she can’t become an alcoholic—even if there is no history of it in your family.

Even if you don’t become an alcoholic, other things are going to happen to you inside your brain and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Here are some of the things that will begin to change in your brain if you start drinking before you are 21:

• You will have more social problems. Even though you might think you are drinking to help you fit in, the truth is that you will have more trouble getting along with people, understanding them, and keeping friendships. The parts of your brain that help you understand social skills will be damaged and you will not be able to think clearly enough to make good choices.
• Your hippocampus might be ten percent smaller than the hippocampus of teens who don’t drink. No, we’re not talking about a zoo animal school. Your hippocampus is the part of the brain that helps you learn and remember. This means you’ll do worse in school (and have to study even longer hours to remember things) and you’ll forget important things, even fun important things.
• The part of the brain that helps you make choices is damaged and while you are drinking, you will also be less able to make good choices. If you get drunk, you may find out the next day you did some things that are really embarrassing and might even ruin your entire life. Stay in charge by not letting alcohol make your choices for you.
• The part of the brain that controls impulsive behavior is damaged. This means you’ll make snap decisions without thinking them through. Do you really want your life decided by instant decisions you haven’t thought about?
• Teens who drink do worse in school, get into more trouble, and are less likely to fulfill their goals. Is it worth it?

You won’t be a teenager forever and your whole life is affected by the choices you are making right now, including choices about alcohol. If you’re drinking, stop. The sooner you stop, the less damage you’ll do to your brain and your life.

A new study shows kids in Utah are less likely to drink than anywhere else. No, you don’t have to move to Utah to stop drinking or to not start, although if you’re in Utah, you might find more friends who also don’t drink. Many of them don’t drink because they are Mormon. In fact, most of the states that have low numbers of teens who drink are in states with a lot of religious teens. Attending a church where people choose not to drink at any age gives you a great support network when you don’t want to drink. If you don’t want to go to church, find friends who don’t drink. There are more of them than you think. It’s really hard to avoid alcohol when your friends use it.

When I was in high school, my friends started drinking. I didn’t really know how to get out of the group and I didn’t like being made fun of for not drinking, so I went to a school counselor for help. She changed my schedule so I didn’t have classes or lunch with them anymore and I quickly found new friends whose standards were more like mine. If you don’t know how to get out of your crowd, don’t be afraid to help. Your parents, teachers, or counselors will be more than happy to help you figure it out.

Learn more about what happens to the teen brain when you drink.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often mistakenly called the Mormon Church) holds its members to high standards. There are certain covenants members take upon themsleves, which they strive every day to work on and keep. There are times, though, when an individual does something that can get him or her excommunicated from the Church. This action is only taken when an individual has committed a very serious sin. Excommunication means that the person’s records are removed from the Church and excludes the individual from holding a calling (or position of responsibility in the Church), taking the Sacrament (or Eucharist), and attending the temple, although individuals are welcome to and are encouraged to attend regular church meetings. They are welcome to come back to the Church at any time, through the process of repentance and getting re-baptism. In fact, that is the express purpose of excommunication—the beginning of the repentance process, with Church authorities there to help at every juncture. Remember, excommunication is the result of very serious sin.

Even though I wish that I could tell you that every member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a strong and obedient member, that is not true of any religious parish or congregation. Like all children of God, we have our agency—the ability to choose right from wrong. And there are times that people in the Church are lured in by the world’s temptations. When a member falls into a temptation that is great enough, there is a chance that a member can be excommunicated, which means that their records can be erased  from the Church.

Most of my life, I have lived around people of the Church whose morals and behavior have matched my own. But the older that I got, the more I made friends with those are not what they may have appeared at first to be. I believed as a child, that if you were a member of the LDS Church, you never did anything bad in your life. It wasn’t until I got into the Army that I realized how untrue that was. Out of about three hundred people in my unit, there were only four or five Mormons. Each day of the week, I watched them live and act as though the Church and its teachings meant nothing. Then on Sunday, they went to church, like nothing was wrong. What made me the most upset was the fact that they had claimed that the only reason they went to church was to get out of cleaning duty.

Now, I’ll admit that it was a nice perk. But that was not the reason that I went to church every Sunday. When I got home, I made friends with people of the Church who were just like the people I had met in the Army. The closer that I got to those people, the more I found out about the things that they were doing. It hurt to see my friends slowly fall into the darkness of sin. One friend whom I was very close to was talking to me one day and told me of a situation that disgusted me. It was my belief that his actions were those that merit excommunication.

I talked to my parents about his situation, telling them what I believed he should do. My parents gave me good advice, though. They said that it wasn’t my place to decide what he should do. Just like a person decides what they do in life, bad or good, they also must decide for themselves whether they are worthy to continue being a part of the Church. Even though I felt that my friend should talk to the bishop, and maybe be excommunicated for his actions, it wasn’t my place to decide. That was something between him, God, and his Bishop.

When excommunication from the Church is necessary, we must not regard the penalty as an end to all blessings and eternal possibilities. Even excommunication, serious as it is, can have the effect of restoring the proper perspective of the offender. Once deprived of Church membership, it is interesting to note how vitally important rebaptism becomes. The truly repentant excommunicated person will strive diligently to regain the waters of baptism. In the Church, there are scores of members who have earned their way back into the Church through true repentance, who now stand on more firm ground than ever before in their lives. They have learned their lesson well. They are not likely to make the same mistake again; and surely the blessings of eternity are once again a possibility, thanks to the sanctifying influence of true repentance coupled with the miracle of forgiveness.

(See Robert L. Simpson, “Q&A: Questions and Answers,” New Era, July 1975, 47–48.)

For the rest of my ninth grade year, those two people insulted and teased me every chance that they got. The pain was too much most days, so I ended up spending most of my time in the counselor’s office to get away from them. When I moved on to High School, the boy and girl that were hurting me emotionally went to different High Schools than I. For a year and a half, I tried my hardest to forget everything that had happened and focus on making new friends in High School. And for that year and a half, I forgot all about the guy and girl that made me cry almost every day. Half way through my 11th year, my family moved more south in the town we were living in. Because of this, I ended up going to a new High School. My first day that I had drama class, I walked down to the Arts side of the building. Sitting on the steps, talking to one of my old and good friends, was the guy that made my 9th grade year so awful. When I saw him, my eyes opened as wide, as my jaw dropped and my body shook. I didn’t know what I was going to do. But the second that I saw him smile and walk over to me, to give me a hug, I knew what to do. I was going to forgive him, right there and then; I was going to forgive him. And I did. I did not mention anything that happened in 9th grade, and neither did he. He moved past it, and so did I.

It’s discouraging to see how many movies now a days are so focused on revenge, on hurting those who have wronged you in some way. About sixty percent of the movies that I see in the theaters are based around that topic. My question is why can’t people see the pattern in every revenge story that they watch. It never ends well for anybody.

Forgiveness is something that is taught in depth in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and in most other churches, and is one of the hardest things to do. It’s hard to let go of the hurt that has been embedded in your heart and soul. But it’s also one of the most rewarding things when it’s done right. There are times when forgiveness can only come through prayer and sometimes fasting. Holding on to hate and pain doesn’t do anything to the people who have wronged you. Keeping those feelings inside for so long turns you into a spiteful and angry person. Holding grudges eats away at you and makes you ugly, inside and out. There is no peace in holding it and building your life around wanting revenge.

Therefore I say unto you, Go; and whosoever transgresseth against me, him shall ye judge accourding to the sins which he has committed; and if he confess his sins before thee and me, and repenteth in the sincerity of his heart, him shall ye forgive, and I will forgive him also.

Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me.

And ye shall also forgive one another your trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his neighbor’s trespasses when he says that he repents, the same hath brought himself under condemnation (Mosiah 26: 29—31).

One story that I can relate to and that most of you know is The Count of Monte Cristo. Because the villain was jealous of the main character, he ruined his life and made him suffer for being happy. The main character, Edmond Dantes, spends the rest of the story plotting ways to get revenge. As you read, you can see how much he changes. He becomes a cynical and hateful person, completely different from the sweet and caring person that he was in the beginning.

In stark contrast, Jesus Christ was bound, beaten, mocked, and spat upon before He was nailed to a cross on the Golgotha, not even a day after he knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane and suffered for all of our sins. And still as he hung on the cross, bruised, broken, and in more pain than we can ever imagine, He raised his head to the heavens and said with a soft voice. “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Abortion is probably one of the touchiest subjects that is brought up amongst the women in and outside of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But it’s also an essential topic of discussion, which should be gone over with every person.

Abortion, the taking of life, is one of the most grievous of sins. We have repeatedly affirmed the position of the Church in unalterably opposing all abortions, except in two rare instances: When conception is the result of forcible rape and when competent medical counsel indicates that a mother’s health would otherwise be seriously jeopardized. The Church maintains this stance thirty years later. Even when one of the rare extenuating circumstances arises, the Church counsel’s women that abortion is still a gravely serious matter which should be considered only after having consulted with local church leaders and after fervently praying to know if the decision is correct (President Spencer W. Kimball).

A few years ago, I was listening to a speech given by a political figure on the subject of abortion. His view as a father was that if his daughter had a child out of wedlock, he would not make his daughter suffer the consequences of her actions, that he would allow her to have a abortion if she so desired. There are several arguments about when a child is actually considered a living being. Most believe that someone is not considered a living being until they are born. The Lord has taught, through revelation to His prophets, that we existed as spirits before being born on earth, so our lives and identities are eternal. A human being has this unique identity even before it is formed, and once it starts to grow inside the mother’s womb, and eliminating a pregnancy is considered an act close to that of murder.

As it says in the above quote by President Kimball, there are only a few exceptions that can justify abortion. Even in those situations, prayer and thorough consideration is necessary. Adoption is a favorable choice for mothers to make and gives the child a chance to be raised in a loving and complete family. Even if they don’t get adopted, they can go on to live a full and prosperous life.

I had a friend a High School, who made a few poor decisions after High school and became pregnant, by a boy who was not responsible and did not have the greatest morals. When I found out, she and I had a long conversation about what she was going to do. She knew that her boyfriend was not going to do the right thing, and when she told her parents, they kicked her out of the house. She talked to me about the possibility of having an abortion. I told her “It’s not fair, that you should make a child suffer for something that was not its fault. Give it a chance to live, whether it’s with you, or with another family.” When I said that to her, she began to cry into her hands. Not another word was uttered that night. We didn’t talk for about two weeks after that. I was afraid that I had said something that offended her, or upset her. After those two weeks of silence between us, she called me and told me that when I talked about her child, she could see its smiling face and knew that it deserved to live.

That’s the view on abortion, in the Church and for me. Every being deserves to live, every being has a purpose in this world and it should not be decided to shorten that life, because of poor decisions that another made.

“Most abortions are performed on demand to deal with unwanted pregnancies. These abortions are simply a form of birth control. Elective abortion has been legalized in many countries on the premise that a woman is free to choose what she does with her own body. To an extent this is true for each of us, male or female. We are free to think. We are free to plan. And we are free to do. But once an action has been taken, we are never free from its consequences. To understand this concept more clearly, we can learn from the astronaut. Anytime during selection or preparation, he or she is free to withdraw from the program. But once the spacecraft has lifted off, the astronaut is bound to the consequences of the previous choice to make the journey. So it is with people who choose to embark on a journey that leads to parenthood. They have freedom of choice—to begin or not to begin that course. When conception does occur, that choice has already been made. Yes, a woman is free to choose what she will do with her body. Whether her choice leads to an astronaut’s mission or to a baby, her choice to begin the journey binds her to the consequences of that choice. She cannot ‘unchoose.’” (The LDS Perspective on Abortion, quoted from Abortion: An Assault on the Defenseless, Russell M. Nelson, Ensign — October 2008, 32–37)

While God’s plan is to let us grow and learn through our choices, Satan’s plan was to choose everything for us, to take away our agency and have complete control over us.

Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down (Moses 4:3).

What will we do with that agency? That’s simple, we will make mistakes and we will learn from them, as well as make right decisions and learn from those as well. What we decide to do with that agency will bring us closer or further from the Lord.

When I was in Army, choosing to do what was right was not always the easiest choice. It prevented me from forming friendships with others, made me a sort of outcast in some groups, and set me at a higher standard than others. Many of the females in my unit tried to get me to drink on more than one occasion. Their view was that since I was goofy sober, I would be the funniest drunk they had ever seen. My choice to not do as they asked me was difficult, because they believed that I was saying no, because I was scared. My choice lowered and raised my reputation in different ways. I was seen as the “Molly Mormon” and therefore was shunned by many of my peers, because they believed that I was going to judge them or report their actions to the sergeants. At the same time, I was an example to some, and was respected for sticking to my convictions, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

There was a time in my training that I made the wrong decision and will forever regret it. My friends and I went to the movies, looking to see a certain movie we had talked about for a few weeks. When we got to the theater, the movie was sold out. We didn’t want to go back to the barracks, so we decided to watch another movie called “Hostage.” We didn’t know what the movie was about, but I did know that it was rated R. The Mormon Church advices to not watch rated R movies, because of the content in them. The content that is in rated R movies can diminish the spirit. My first bad decision was to watch the movie, despite its rating. The beginning part of the movie had an excess of pornographic material in it, followed by graphic and horrific scenes. My second bad decision, was to stay in the theater, even though I could feel the spirit diminish around me. I didn’t want to leave my friends, and I didn’t want to seem like I was scared, so I stayed in my seat, eyes closed and covered for most of the movie.

The content of that movie has stuck with me for many years after my training. I regret my decision to not speak up when I knew that watching an R movie would not be a good idea, and I regret that I was not strong enough to walk out of the theater when I saw the content. But I don’t regret the lessons that I learned from that night. I don’t regret that I became stronger and was able to say no to other things in my future dealings with my fellow comrades. We learn from our choices, whether they are good or bad. Everything that we do with our agency, determines where we end up after we have completed our time here on earth. We learn from our mistakes, learn from the right choices that we make. We study and grow in knowledge that will help us make the right decisions in the future.

Lately I have been hyper-aware of the fact that the world has nothing to offer us for eternity. Let me describe what I mean by “the world” and by “eternity.” If you are not a Latter-day Saint, a little background might help you understand what I am trying to illustrate.

“The world” is a term that I like to use for pretty much everything we see in our world. It includes the fashion magazines showing me which hairstyles and types of clothing I should be wearing this season. It includes the latest and greatest entertainment technology. It includes the many commercials and ads that bombard me at every turn, trying to interest me in buying the newest car or getting plastic surgery to enhance my appearance.  The world is basically the realm of everything that is offered by the world and available for purchase with money.

We have all heard the old saying that when you die you can’t take anything with you. This is an appropriate segway into my description of what is eternal. Eternally we can only take a few things.

We can take all the knowledge that we have gained in this lifetime. We will also have the same personality and attitude when we cross over into the after-life. If we have addictions here, we will still have them there, but it will be embarrassing and frustrating, since we will not be able to actually fulfill those addictions and, with futility, we will try anyway.  We will also have all of our relationships that we have here on the earth. That is why it is crucial to make sure our relationships are wholesome and respectful.  Since everyone we meet on this earth will live for eternity, it would do us well to take care of our relationships.

Being here in this world gives all of us an opportunity to sift through what is good and what is pointless, what is helpful and what is wicked. We have different situations we must endure and a plethora of decisions to make all along the way. Bad things do happen to good people, and what we do with those things is our test. It is also our opportunity to grow and become someone better than we were before that happened. If we mess up the first time around, Jesus Christ, our advocate with God Almighty, our Father in Heaven, has provided a way for us to change our ways and to get it right the next time.

If we live only in “the world,” we miss out on some of the greatest epiphanies that would have been ours if we had given some time and thought to our spiritual self and our spiritual well-being.   An “epiphany” is a sudden realization that changes the way we look at things, and many such moments of enlightenment come directly from God.

It does seem a little overwhelming that the God of heaven and earth is aware of me as an individual. Sometimes I just want to ignore that fact and bury myself in my work or in playing video games. I mean, for me to think that the same eternal and omnipotent God who created Cleopatra and Socrates and the dinosaurs and an unlimited amount of great leaders in history, also created me and knows me by name is just a bit over the top. He knew me before I was born. He knows me now. He knows all the stupid mistakes I have made. He knows what I am going to do next. He knows I am writing this article. He knows how and when I am going to die. He knows if I have love in my heart for my fellow man. When I kneel to pray to this God, the father of Jesus, my Heavenly Father, who knows everything about me (and you), I sometimes don’t know what to say. I figure I am wasting His time and mine because He already knows what I am going to say.

Am I going to ask for a new car or a good plastic surgeon? Should I ask for a lot of money to fall into my lap so I can buy a big house or a boat?  Do those things really matter when I am talking to the most illustrious of all beings in the Universe as we know it?

And here’s what I know to be true: I know that He hears my prayers. A reverent awe comes over me, as I recollect the many prayers which He has answered.  I have had many prayers answered that could not have been coincidence. I also know that when seemingly bad things have happened in my life, there was a reason for them. I know, in retrospect, that I grew from those experiences, even though at the time they were very hard to endure. The other day my sister said to me, “You seem very peaceful.” I think it is because I am realizing that most of what I normally worry about in this world is insignificant when I consider eternity and my eternal existence. I am learning to live with me and what I will take with me, when it is my time to meet God face to face.  I don’t think it will be very soon. I am just starting to get it.

So, when I say that the world has nothing to offer us for eternity, I mean that there is a bigger picture, if only we can let ourselves recognize God in our lives. He does love us. He does know us. And I saw a billboard by the side of the road last week that said “When we die, we will see God.” That’s all it said. What a great reminder that He is there for us and we will see Him again! How much it will make our lives more robust and full, if we can start to “see” that God is there for us and that the things of this world have little value in the long run, eternally.

Mormon leaders have talked about this a lot. Mormon is an informal nickname some people use when they’re talking about members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Most Mormons actually call themselves LDS (Latter-day Saints), not Mormons, although the Church has accepted that Mormon is more popular among people who aren’t Mormon. It refers to the Book of Mormon, which Mormons use along with the Bible.

One Mormon leader, Russell M. Nelson, explains that there is a difference between tolerance and tolerating. Knowing that difference can help us figure out how to live in a very diverse world. He suggests we look at Jesus’ life to help us understand how we should react to people who live lives we know are immoral.

When I read the New Testament, one of the things I notice is that Jesus didn’t just hang out with other Christians. He had a lot of friends and he spent a lot of time with people who didn’t live the commandments or who were considered inferior by others. I notice that he treated these people with respect.

For instance, most people in his time wanted nothing to do with Samarians. But Jesus intentionally traveled through Samaria and stopped to share the gospel with a Samarian woman at a well. He treated her with dignity and she responded by becoming a missionary for the gospel.

We can strengthen others by standing for truth and rigteousness.

You might remember the story about the woman everyone wanted to stone because she had sinned. They brought her to Jesus, hoping, no doubt, He would be shocked and horrified by her sin and maybe even help with—or at least approve—the stoning. What did He do instead? He suggested that the person in the group who had never sinned throw the first stone. Of course, He was the only person who fit that description, but He had no desire to stone her. Once the others, embarrassed, had left, Jesus spoke to her kindly, telling her He was not going to pass final judgment on her.

Even though He sent her on her way, it is really important to notice what else He did. He told her not to sin anymore. He didn’t say, “It’s her life. I need to be tolerant of how she chooses to live it.” What she had done was a sin and He made sure she understood that. However, He wasn’t willing to kill her over it or decide how she would be judged at the end of her life. By telling he she had sinned, but sending her away with a commandment to stop, He gave her a chance to repent, to change her life before she died and faced final judgment.

Jesus never did just accept sin because it was the politically correct thing to do. When He saw sin, He put a stop to it. He cleared the temple. He spoke up even to political leaders and powerful community people. He did not tolerate sin. But He was tolerant, in that He treated people who sinned with dignity. He could love them as people without accepting their sins. He didn’t say “You have a right to live any way you want, even if it hurts you and even if it hurts others.”

There is a difference between the sin and the sinner. You’ve probably heard people say we must condemn the sin, but love the sinner. This is what Jesus did.

Some sins hurt other people and some only hurt the sinner directly (although all of society suffers when sin is in the world) but we know we can’t just let people do whatever they want to do because it’s “their life.” The reason we have laws is because we understand our country works better when we set standards and make people live by them. The reason parents have rules is because it is their job to set standards and to protect their children.

When you were little, your parents didn’t let you cross the street alone because they knew it would put you into physical danger. Today, they might have rules about coming home at a certain time or even about what kinds of friends you can have. They aren’t trying to ruin your fun. They are trying to keep you safe. Sometimes they are keeping you physically safe, but other times, they are keeping you morally safe. God is that kind of parent.

The thing is that this life is only a small part of your entire life. The longest parts of your life happened before you were born, when you lived with God and started becoming who you are now, and the time after you die. After you die, you’ll live forever, and how you live depends a lot on the choices you make today. Jesus taught over and over that there will be a judgment day when the sins we don’t’ repent of will be punished. He said that only people who kept His commandments would get to be with God after death. Your parents are trying their best to help you live in a way that will allow you to live with God someday. That means they sometimes make rules that are protecting your eternal life.

So how do you apply all this when you’re out in the world surrounded by people who are living lives you know are wrong? Let’s look at a few examples and wonder how Jesus would handle it.

One thing Mormons do is to make it clear that temptations and behavior aren’t the same thing. We can’t choose what we are tempted by or inclined towards. We can choose how we act. An alcoholic who is still drinking is committing a sin. If he stops drinking, but still craves alcohol, he is not sinning—as long as he doesn’t take a drink. He can control the actions, not the cravings. Homosexual tendencies are not a sin; homosexual behavior is. We can be kind and respectful when we are with people who are homosexuals because they are God’s children and therefore deserving of respect. We don’t have to respect their sins, however, nor do we have to encourage them. Jesus didn’t and so we shouldn’t. We may have friends who smoke and we will love them and treat them kindly, but we don’t have to let them smoke around us. We can love our friends who drink, but we don’t have to—and must not—serve alcohol at our parties just to “prove” we are tolerant.

If you had friends who were doing things you knew was very dangerous—dating an abusive boyfriend, for instance, or drinking, or going into dangerous neighborhoods–you would try your best to stop them. Spiritual danger is more serious than physical danger. You can show love to a person and treat him or her with respect while not respecting those dangerous choices.

At school and in your daily activities, you will meet a lot of people who live in ways you know are wrong. You don’t have to stay at a party where teens are drinking just to show you are tolerant. You don’t even have to tell them they are welcome to live that way. You do have to treat them kindly, help them when they are in trouble, and be respectful of them as people—but you don’t have to respect their sins.

Next time, we’re going to talk about tolerance in terms of religion—how do we live in a religiously diverse world?

We are in the decision-making portion of our existence. The teenage years can be somewhat of a fall from the innocence of childhood, just like we came down to Earth from living in innocence with God. We need the knowledge we gain in life, as in teenage years, to grow up to our full potential. Though some of us would probably like to skip being teenagers, it’s a crucial learning stage. Even in awkward, emotional, challenging times, you learn important lessons to guide your life. Similarly, in the fallen state of mortality, we learn from experience the lessons necessary for our eternal destiny.

The lessons we learn in life and the decisions we make will determine whether we meet our full potential—whether we can become like our Father in Heaven. President Thomas S. Monson shared a story in the last General Conference, in which an elders quorum president was asked about the worth of souls:

The stunned quorum president hesitated as he formulated his reply. I had a prayer in my heart that he would be able to answer the question. He finally responded, “The worth of a soul is its capacity to become as God.” (Thomas S. Monson, “Our Sacred Priesthood Trust,” Ensign, May 2006, 56)

Being a teenager seems like everything when it’s happening, but when it’s over, it seems like a very short time—a time when we either prepared for the blessings and responsibilities of adulthood or we wasted time, thinking that just being a teenager was all that mattered. This life is the same way. We can either choose to prepare for the eternal adulthood—being like God—or we can be absorbed in mortality, thinking that this life is what matters.

So what does matter? Remembering the worth of your immortal soul, and preparing for the life to come. In this life, there are many ways we can prepare. We can take advantage of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He paid the price for your otherwise-impossible destiny—will you do what it takes to reach it? We can learn to know personally our Heavenly Father and our Savior. We can repent, pray, read scriptures, listen to our leaders, and control ourselves.

While the hope and destiny of every human being is great, the things that will bring that destiny into view are usually simple, sometimes tedious, and never glamorous. They are the little things we do every day, like praying meaningfully, repenting of smaller or larger sins, and going to Mormon Church meetings. But these small things are what bring about the miracles necessary to grow to be closer to and more like Heavenly Father. Daily devotion to doing the right is what brings a powerful testimony and witness from the Holy Ghost. Worthiness brings the blessings of eternity promised when we keep our covenants. Repentance allows the miraculous atonement really work in us, to clean us from sin and let God forget our wrongs.

In this time of making choices, as in mortal life, we choose what we will be. We choose whether to be morally clean adults, blessed by covenants and service. We choose whether we will become like God after this mortal life. At this time, remember what you are worth. Remember not to throw yourself away in the darkness of a tough decision. There is light in keeping an eternal perspective.

Richard G. Hinckley said the following of repentance:

“How grateful I am for the understanding we have of this great principle. It is not a harsh principle, as I thought when I was a boy. It is kind and merciful.” (”Repentance, a Blessing of Membership,” Ensign, May 2006, 49)

Heavenly Father gave his only begotten Son to suffer and die at the hands of cruel enemies, lonely and without succor, just so we could all have the chance to come back to him and feel the glory of his presence. Would we hold back our repentance where he has done so much? So much was paid so that we could repent and have joy in being pure, and so much is at stake in our repenting-we have nothing to lose but sorrow as we increase in our purity.

Complete repentance brings a new and better life. It turns a life we may think we have destroyed into a blessed life. Repentance restores opportunities and blessings and self-respect. Repent. Be worthy once again to return to the God and Father who loves you enough-in all of your imperfections-to sacrifice everything.

When I was about fourteen, I had an interview with my Mormon bishop, who explained to me that as I made correct choices, I would have more options for my future, but if I made bad choices, my options would become more and more limited. Some think that taking the greatest advantage of freedom means making whatever wrong choices you want, but the truth is that every wrong choice limits freedom in some way. Even choosing not to study can limit what colleges you get into!

Freedom and agency, Mormons believe, are two of the greatest gifts God has given to man. I have found it to be true that every correct choice I’ve made has given me freedoms, while wrong choices have taken them away. Repentance, however, is always an option, and it brings freedom to captives. In times when we are unworthy or burdened by sin and the consequences of bad decisions, we can turn to Jesus Christ; we can repent of our sins and forsake them. The choice to repent will allow Christ to give us uncountable blessings and guide us to make correct choices and receive more freedoms. Freedom is not free-agency was given to us by God, and the savior’s atonement gave us the freedom to always repent and be forgiven. We have to guard our freedom and treasure it by using it wisely.