Deep Appreciation

President Spencer W. Kimbell, the twelfth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said, “We know that women who have a deep appreciation for the past will be concerned about shaping a righteous future.” This understanding can help us find inspiration from the past and feel peace as we face the future.

As I consider the implications of this concept, it occurs to me that if I am willing to forgive myself for my past actions, past emotions, and past perceptions that it would be easier to face the future with peace. In fact, these statements allow me a whole new perception of my past. I now can consider my past as an experience, and a learning example that offers me two ways of shaping my future.

I can either choose to shape my future in a manner where I recognize the darkness and the light that is in my past, and use those experiences as a way to point me towards Christ, or I can choose to shape my future in a manner where I recognize the darkness alone and shape my future as a victim and simply conform to a future of victimhood, and allow the darkness to direct who I become.

We all have this choice, we all have this freedom, and we all have the blessing of consequence to spark our free agency to shape a path that we can journey home towards our Savior, Jesus Christ.