On The Right Track

I spent a little time in high school at the Latter-Day Saints' early morning religious education programs and learned SEW many fascinating things. I was reminded of their POSITIVE interpretation of Adam and Eve's Fall from Grace yesterday during The Rev Dr EMC Kaeton's sermon.

It reminded me of something a pentecostal preacher said to me once, "There is NO WAY to step off God's path for your life, never worry about that. If you leave a ministry, there's a Substitute right around the corner, just like you are taking up for a lack in the universe somewhere else with your new beginning. Do you think any of your choices SURPRISE God? You get the choice, you choose, God lays straight your path with blessings, get it?"

Isaiah says, "You will go out with joy and be led forth by God with peace. God's word be which goes out of My mouth will not return to Me void, useless, without result, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

The Good Doctor said, << We have free will AND the gift of grace, no matter our choice ... You see, my friends, we all have within us a divine spark. Each. And. Every. One. Of. Us. No exceptions. We all have the potential to do enormous good and terrible wrong. It is our choice. And, it is our responsibility. ... Grace to find hope, no matter how dark the future may seem. >>

Don't know if you know it, but Mormon cosmology puts a positive spin on The Fall that I've always found refreshing, and cleared up aye LOT of stuff for me:

It was a necessary step in the plan of this beautiful life we've been given on this earth. If it weren't for The Fall, we wouldn't have these amazing physical bodies; we wouldn't HAVE the right to choose between good and evil. we wouldn't know "opposites." How could we recognize "joy" if we didn't know a life without it. With the "gift" of this choice, God knows The Grateful Ones. We're not mindlessly living in God's blessings, living thoughtlessly, all these blessings as a given; without "lack" how would we know "bounty."

The Fall gives us the opportunity to actively participate in mitzvahs that are God gifts to us: Part One, God offers; Part Two. we mindfully accept; mitzvah complete.

Problem with choosing is, we have to reach out, step out, listen to the still small inner voice that inspires us to try something new. If the worry is ever that our courage will result in lack, then we're not recalling The Sacred Stories ... Mama Will Provide (#OnceOnThisIsland #MusicalComedyDamage), "Jehovah Jireh, my providuh" ...

Speaking of The Sacred Stories, it's just like the Bunjee-Jump Ride Operator says to Selena (in the BioPic #Selena) when she's too scared to leap: "The Hardest Part is The First Step."

We gotta Trust and Fly. We gotta trust that whether we get pushed out of the nest, or whether we decide to step out of the nest, that we're gonna soar, we're gonna fly ... God's palm is right underneath us ... "we have the gift of grace ... no matter our choice ..." xoxo