A Grave Mistake: Growth from Challenges

In your life time, can you think of an action you took or something you did, that, although it seemed harmless at the time, you wish you could go back and change, redo, or not do at all?  I can think of many mistakes I have made in my short life time of 19 years, just small little things that seemed harmless, but have had an effect that lasted much longer than I thought. Although I wish I could take some of them back, or change how I did something, I realize that I would not have learned the lessons I needed to learn. If I did not learn my lesson, I probably would not even want to change my actions.

I want say that the only actions I would change or not take are those that affect those who I care for the most. But every action I take has an effect on those around me. The words I use affect people. The tone I use affects people. The attitude I have affects people. Actions I take affect people.

I like how someone once illustrated the affect we have on people. They compared it to magnets. For those who do not know how a magnet works, I will give a synopsis. A magnet works by generating a magnetic field. The magnetic field is generated by the alignment of the molecules in the magnet and the movement of the electrons around those molecules. The way that compares to us is to picture yourself as a molecule in the magnet. If just one molecule moves out of place and is no longer in line with the other molecules, the whole system is disrupted.

It works the same in life. We affect people around us just like molecules in a magnet. If we tweak ourselves, other are affect by that change.  We can help others change for the good or for the bad. We as human beings make mistakes. Sometimes we hurt others without meaning it. We can be the cause of disrupting the alignment of many lives by the way we live our lives. Albeit, this is not an absolute. People still have their agency as to how they will react to situations; the way we live our lives presents choices to others that may lead down the wrong road.

The beautiful part of this life is that people, both young and old, both male and female, can change and make choices for themselves, "for with God all things are possible." (Mark 10:27) Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer have Atoned for our sins, for our mistakes. He has "bought [us] with a price..." (1 Cor 6:20) We are his. "And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me." (2 Nephi 31:10)

All He asks of us is to follow his example. For "...unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved." (2 Nephi 31:16) The only grave mistake we can make in this life is not trusting in Christ and His atonement. For if we turn to Him and humble ourselves, we can only grow closer to Him.


‎"We cannot control what others choose to do, and so we cannot force our children to heaven, but we can determine what we will do. And we can decide that we will do all we can to bring down the powers of heaven into that family we want so much to have forever." 
Elder Henry B. Eyring