agency.

I've always thought Agency and the Fall would make a fantastic hardcore band name.


Agency is one of my favorite facets of the gospel - and perhaps one that causes me the most personal frustration.

In D&C 58:26-29 the Lord is pretty straightforward when he says, ". . . it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things . . . is a slothful and not a wise servant . . . men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will . . . the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves . . . he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned."

Agency is sacred to our Father in Heaven - it's why he "lets bad things happen." He cannot and will not step in every time someone chooses to use their agency unwisely, including when it hurts his children whom he loves.

This is not to say that he is not a God of miracles whose will cannot be thwarted - but he loves us enough to let us make decisions ourselves.

I'm pretty opinionated about certain aspects of agency, but I'll treat one of them briefly.


It is my personal opinion that each of us has a specific mission to fulfill in this life. And that mission is best fulfilled if certain things happen in our lives. For some it's where and if they serve a mission, for others it is a specific career, or a certain place they should raise their family, or how many kids they should bring into the world, and for others it is who they should marry, etc. I think for each of us it's usually only one or two these things - not all of them. And this is where the agency thing comes into play.

We can choose to not fulfill our earthly mission. God will not force us to do any of these things, though he may spiritually slap us around until we realize how foolish we're being - again that's a choice we make - to act on that realization or not.

But then there's the every day decisions, small and big, where God just wants us to do what will make us happy, and then he works with us to make that decision right for us. I felt that God approved of what I chose to study and since then has blessed me with incredible opportunities in my professional life. But I think it was largely my decision to pursue industrial design. I could have been a graphic designer, or a photographer, or an accountant. But I'm happiest where I am and God has blessed me and advanced me in it.

There are other things in my life that have been much different. God is most definitely guiding me to a specific result, and when it comes, I will exercise my agency and choose this thing that God has prepared for me.


Agency is great. And sometimes frustrating when we want to be guided in every single thing and God says, "you're a big boy, you're smart, you have the Holy Ghost to help you reason - use it." But I'm grateful that he trusts us enough to make our own decisions, learn from the poor ones, and be blessed in the good ones.