Agency

One of the rights that we fought for before we came to earth was the right to agency. Sometimes it is so hard to remember that everyone has their agency. Sometimes it is hard for me because I know that my friends are making poor choices and it is hard for me to see them do such, but ultimately it is their agency and they will reap their consequences. I hate calling it 'free agency' because it is not free. Consequences are a result of every choice that we make. I wonder sometimes if 'free agency' became a combination from 'free will' and 'agency.' Anyway, I really like these scriptures from 2 Nephi 2 about agency: "...there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon..Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other." It really makes me think about being proactive vs. reactive. If we are being proactive then we are choosing to act, but when we are reactive then we are being acted upon. Part of the plan is to see how we will act when we have two opposite forces acting upon us. If we choose to act then we are using our agency correctly. Later in 2 Nephi 2 it says, "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." The italicized part informs me that everyone has enough information to make good choices and bad choices. We all have our agency despite our life's circumstances. I know I don't always use my agency as I should, but I am striving to turn my will into the Lord's will, and hopefully every day I get a little closer!!!:)