Motive

     
       As a 25 year old woman who recently graduated from college I find myself faced with the opportunity to make many choices. This isn't a bad thing. In fact, it is a wonderful gift to exercise agency given to me by a loving God. However, I must confess that I sometimes feel torn as to which direction to go. I feel that there are good opportunities all around me, and I admit at times I fear I will choose the wrong option.In order to make a correct decision I have been pondering what causes us to do the things we do when we do them. Then it came to me. It is all summed up in one word. Motive: a desire that causes a person to act.
         So what then should be our motive?  We sometimes get distracted by what is easy, convenient, and practical. We also sometimes put money making, pleasure, and anything that will make us feel "good" as the cause of our actions.  But I wonder will these things really make us truly and completely happy?
         The more I pondered I realized how beautifully simple the answer was for me. The motive should be love, real, eternal, and charitable love. I narrowed it down to three main sources of love. Love of God,  love of self, and love of others. Let me explain.
    First, we need to consider the love of God. If we love God we will really want to do His will and accept His timing. We will be prayerful and really talk to our loving Father who is the source of all knowledge. The really exciting part is that when we choose to do things because of the love of God we are actually choosing our own happiness. God's greatest joy comes from our happiness. He knows us and loves us better than we can love ourselves. Loving God ultimately means confidence and trust in His plan even when we do not fully understand it.
   Second, we need to consider love for ourselves. Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that we ought to be prideful or selfish, or that we are more important than others. What I am saying is that we can't give water from an empty well. We must consider choices that will make us happier and more able to serve. This can be simple things like exercise or getting enough sleep. Most importantly, this means loving ourselves as a child of God. Loving yourself as a child of God means realizing that your dreams really can come true. It means that you understand you are capable of reasoning, thinking, and creating. It means trusting yourself to trust in God.
     Finally, our motive should be out of love for other people. In general conference recently we heard from Elder Ellis that we ought to ask ourselves, "where does the Lord need a good family"  Obviously, I don't have a family of my own yet.  To me this means where does the Lord feel I can serve the best. The best service can always be given in the home. However, we pass people on the streets all the time. We see people in classes, or at work, or even in a restaurant. Each of them is also a child of God. We all have bad days, and sometimes we even have good days that we need to celebrate with other people, but we may feel alone. We can help each other not to feel alone. If we truly look at someone as a child of God we will treat them differently and they will feel God's love through us!
   So, while this train of thought was mostly for me I thought I would share it with you. Whatever your reasons, settling for less than love as a motive will not bring happiness!! True happiness comes from true, real and eternal love. I really and honestly believe that!