Preparing for the Best

Catch-y title don’t you think? Let me assure you that is what I’m currently doing. For years I have intended to write a post based on Elder Dallin H. Oaks talk Good, Better, Best. Today I will finally do so. The message has never really been far from my mind since hearing it in the October 2007 General conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

One of my children asks a question and not knowing exactly how to best guide him or her, I’ve resorted to reminding him/her to make the Best choice, not merely a Good choice or even the Better choice, but the Best choice. The child that is now an adult has claimed my answer to be a “cop-out.” I smile and remind him to “study it out in his mind . . .” Did he follow my counsel and make the Best choice? Only he knows for sure and I can sigh knowing I taught him correct principles.

My teen asks me what she should do in a particular situation. I smile, feeling more confident with my answer. “You need to choose the Best, not the Better which would be wise, but not necessarily the best.” She rolls her eyes ,”You’ve said that before.” “Yes, I have because it is the Best counsel I can give you. You’ve been taught correct principles. The choice is not mine to make. You have your agency; just remember to use it wisely.”

My pre-teen struggles with peers and asks me what to do. Poor child, he’s heard the answers mentioned above and has also heard my mention of the choices made, and the consequences that followed those choices. I give him that stern yet loving motherly look that says, “You already know the answer,” and remind him of a previous choice he’s made.

Motherly pride swells in my breast when I think of the earlier situation because . . . Father counseled him with a Good choice on that occasion. Mother counseled him with yet another Good choice and yet he made the Best choice by handling the situation and subsequent situations as Jesus Christ would have. (Obviously Mom and Dad went to school on his example.)

So, what do these examples have to do with my personal preparations for the Best?

October 1st and 2nd will find me arranging my schedule to listen to the 182nd Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I invite each of you to join me in listening to prophets and apostles in this worldwide conference. Visit http://lds.org/ or http://mormon.org/ or the BYU links/channels for more information on local times.

Here’s hoping you and I choose the Best.