Mormon Youth

Growing up is hard. Being a teenager is often awkward, but in youth and young adulthood we make crucial decisions that determine what adults we will become. Deciding whether to stay morally clean, who and when to date, whether to have a Temple marriage, what college to go to, whether to prepare to be a Mormon missionary: all of these things change how we will be for the rest of our lives. A decision to prepare and enter the Mormon temple can bring immense blessings, while a decision not to stay morally clean can bring dire heartache.

We are in the decision-making portion of our existence. The teenage years can be somewhat of a fall from the innocence of childhood, just like we came down to Earth from living in innocence with God. We need the knowledge we gain in life, as in teenage years, to grow up to our full potential. Though some of us would probably like to skip being teenagers, it’s a crucial learning stage. Even in awkward, emotional, challenging times, you learn important lessons to guide your life. Similarly, in the fallen state of mortality, we learn from experience the lessons necessary for our eternal destiny.

The lessons we learn in life and the decisions we make will determine whether we meet our full potential—whether we can become like our Father in Heaven. President Thomas S. Monson shared a story in the last General Conference, in which an elders quorum president was asked about the worth of souls:

The stunned quorum president hesitated as he formulated his reply. I had a prayer in my heart that he would be able to answer the question. He finally responded, “The worth of a soul is its capacity to become as God.” (Thomas S. Monson, “Our Sacred Priesthood Trust,” Ensign, May 2006, 56)

Being a teenager seems like everything when it’s happening, but when it’s over, it seems like a very short time—a time when we either prepared for the blessings and responsibilities of adulthood or we wasted time, thinking that just being a teenager was all that mattered. This life is the same way. We can either choose to prepare for the eternal adulthood—being like God—or we can be absorbed in mortality, thinking that this life is what matters.

So what does matter? Remembering the worth of your immortal soul, and preparing for the life to come. In this life, there are many ways we can prepare. We can take advantage of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He paid the price for your otherwise-impossible destiny—will you do what it takes to reach it? We can learn to know personally our Heavenly Father and our Savior. We can repent, pray, read scriptures, listen to our leaders, and control ourselves.

While the hope and destiny of every human being is great, the things that will bring that destiny into view are usually simple, sometimes tedious, and never glamorous. They are the little things we do every day, like praying meaningfully, repenting of smaller or larger sins, and going to Mormon Church meetings. But these small things are what bring about the miracles necessary to grow to be closer to and more like Heavenly Father. Daily devotion to doing the right is what brings a powerful testimony and witness from the Holy Ghost. Worthiness brings the blessings of eternity promised when we keep our covenants. Repentance allows the miraculous atonement really work in us, to clean us from sin and let God forget our wrongs.

In this time of making choices, as in mortal life, we choose what we will be. We choose whether to be morally clean adults, blessed by covenants and service. We choose whether we will become like God after this mortal life. At this time, remember what you are worth. Remember not to throw yourself away in the darkness of a tough decision. There is light in keeping an eternal perspective.

Mormons believe that God made a way for everyone to return to him through Jesus Christ, and the way is repentance. It is not a punishment for sin to have to admit wrongs, change our ways, and sometimes confess to a bishop. The steps of repentance put us back on the path to righteousness, and they are only meant to help us purify our hearts and never go back to our mistakes. Repentance is difficult, but the rewards are infinite.

Richard G. Hinckley said the following of repentance:

“How grateful I am for the understanding we have of this great principle. It is not a harsh principle, as I thought when I was a boy. It is kind and merciful.” (”Repentance, a Blessing of Membership,” Ensign, May 2006, 49)

Heavenly Father gave his only begotten Son to suffer and die at the hands of cruel enemies, lonely and without succor, just so we could all have the chance to come back to him and feel the glory of his presence. Would we hold back our repentance where he has done so much? So much was paid so that we could repent and have joy in being pure, and so much is at stake in our repenting-we have nothing to lose but sorrow as we increase in our purity.

Complete repentance brings a new and better life. It turns a life we may think we have destroyed into a blessed life. Repentance restores opportunities and blessings and self-respect. Repent. Be worthy once again to return to the God and Father who loves you enough-in all of your imperfections-to sacrifice everything.

“Should there be anyone who feels he is too weak to do better because of that greatest of fears, the fear of failure, there is no more comforting assurance to be had than the words of the Lord: ‘My grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them’ (Ether 12:27).”

(Thomas S. Monson, “Our Sacred Priesthood Trust,” Ensign, May 2006, 57)

Every time I read these words of comfort, I can’t help but ask myself a difficult question: How can we have enough humility and faith to let the Lord repair our faults? Humility seems to be one of the most elusive virtues, since if you have it, you will never know. However, when I hear the phrase “humble themselves before me,” I think of countless times in the Book of Mormon when the weak, the sinners, and the oppressed have knelt before God in prayer to ask that their needs be met.

In the Mormon Church, we need to be humble enough to admit that we can’t do it without Heavenly Father, and we need the humility that leads to obedience and worthiness. We need to believe (have faith) that he can and will respond to our pleas, being worthy of the response, and we need to be humble enough not to take the credit for our strength afterward. It is easy to say, “I will never be able to fix everything that is wrong with me,” but the miraculous power of Jesus Christ is with us in our struggles. If we can accept as fact that the Lord will make our weaknesses strong, we can have the faith needed to receive the miracle.

As much as we may doubt our own humility, we must have faith that the Lord is merciful, and that he lets our best efforts be enough. Through the power of the atonement, he can fortify our weakened defenses, reform our broken hearts, and satisfy our most aching hunger. His grace is sufficient that, in all of our weakness, we can still receive if we ask in humility, and believe.

The world is sometimes dark and often cynical. And very often selfish. It’s easy to get caught up in our own desires and our own wants and our own needs. There are so many of them, and school and work and friends keep us so busy. “Doing good” sometimes can seem like just not “doing bad.”

But we need to be active. We need to reach out our hands to other people. We need to look to other people’s needs and be willing to put forth effort to meet them. We can be good influences.

In Mormon belief, we can be missionaries through example as well as through the Mormon missionary program. If we are kind to others, if we live what we believe, people will notice.

President Gordon B. Hinckley said:

“There is no end to the good we can do, to the influence we can have with others. Let us not dwell on the critical or the negative. Let us pray for strength; let us pray for capacity and desire to assist others. Let us radiate the light of the gospel at all times and all places, that the Spirit of the Redeemer may radiate from us.”

(Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Need for Greater Kindness,” Ensign, May 2006, 61)