Shades of Grey....

There's a movie that came out recently that has been in the news. It is called Fifty Shades of Grey, and from what I've heard and read, it is about control. The male lead wants to control everything. I have absolutely no desire to see the film, but the name has me thinking, as I have been immersed in studies this week concerning choices we make, our freedom to choose and the consequences of those choices.
In both of my Pathway courses, we have been studying and discussing choices and setting goals. It seems that this week (like the others) I feel the lessons were made just for me.

Let's think about grey - does grey have both black and white in it?  Or...is grey somewhere between black and white? Do we live in the grey? Heavenly Father did not intend for us to live in the grey. To Him, there is black and there is white. Satan wants the grey. He loves the grey. He allows some truth, but riddled with lies. He's comfortable in confusion.  He has numerous shades of grey, way more than fifty. What can we do? We can stay where we can determine black and white. We can have the guidance of the Spirit. We can go to Him when we must make decisions.

We can study things in our minds, and determine our best plan of action. We can then go and pray and see if our choice aligns with Heavenly Father's will for us. We will know either by a calm, warm feeling or by a stupor of thought. We can then adjust our decision and go again to our Father for confirmation. Then, after receiving it, we can move forward with confidence.

I love how President Kimball explains how right decisions now can help us withstand temptations later. He says, 

"One of the basic tasks for each individual is the making of decisions. A dozen times a day we come to a fork in the road and must decide which way we will go. Some alternatives are long and hard, but they take us in the right direction toward our ultimate goal; others are short, wide, and pleasant, but they go off in the wrong direction. It is important to get our ultimate objectives clearly in mind so that we do not become distracted at each fork in the road by the irrelevant questions: Which is the easier or more pleasant way? or, Which way are others going? Right decisions are easiest to make when we make them well in advance, having ultimate objectives in mind; this saves a lot of anguish at the fork, when we’re tired and sorely tempted."

We must look out for the forks in the road, for these are our pivot points. How we move through those will determine which path we are on. We are either coming unto Christ, or moving further away. 

This isn't meant to be burdensome. With obedience comes happiness and peace. Elder Joseph B Wirthlin taught us his approach in the October 1999 Priesthood session of General Conference: "But every day I try to put Heavenly Father first in my life, I try to come unto Christ and follow Him as my Savior and Redeemer, I nurture the companionship of the Holy Ghost, love and revere the Prophet Joseph, and listen to and follow God’s prophet today. As I do those things, I am confident the Lord will bless me."

 I want to resolve to make better decisions as I strive to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost and take my decisions to my Heavenly Father in prayer for His confirmation.