"Aha" Moment in Seminary

As most of you know, Scott and I are doing daily Seminary at home because it's in Italian over here. I never went to Seminary, having joined the church during my freshman year at college. I have never claimed to be a doctrinal expert. Today something we talked about really struck me.

We were talking about the importance of agency. How important it is that we all have the freedom to make our own choices, but then we must enjoy the blessings or suffer the consequences of those choices.

A quotation from the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Student Guide is what caught my eye. Talking about the War in Heaven we read about how important agency is to our Heavenly Father. It says, "Rather than violate their agency, He [Heavenly Father] allowed one-third of His children, led by the devil, to rebel".

That really hit me. I know Heavenly Father loves us. Can you imagine how much it must have hurt Him to allow one-third of His Spirit Children to make such a terrible choice? A choice that would take away their chance to come to earth and gain a physical body? A choice that would take away their chance for eternal salvation? A choice that would essentially seal their fate.

How very important agency must be. How much more faithful I need to be about the choices I make.

I love "aha" moments like that. Although something simple, that all of you have probably thought about many times, it really resonated with me today.

Maybe that's why I'm in Italy this year - to see what I can learn from teaching Seminary to Scott.