Rules

Yes, I'm thankful for rules. A lot of people would say that it's strange to be thankful for rules because rules chain you up and keep you from being as free as you could be. But rules have done the opposite for me.

Today in Sunday School, my teacher told us about how when she was younger, she would complain about all the rules that the church had in place. She would complain to her dad about how the rules restricted her, and how they kept her from having as much fun as other people around her. Her dad would tell her that the rules were there to give her more freedom in the end. She told us how she was glad, now, that those rules had been kept, and how thankful she was that she had kept them and was now freer than her friends who had become slaves to things like drugs and alcohol.

I, too, have had this experience. In Middle and High School, I was always a complainer when it came to rules. I wanted to have fun like the other kids in my class, the kind of fun that it seemed like all the coolest people were a part of. But my family and friends in my ward were there to remind me that life could still be fun without that kind of fun. They helped me remember that the rules would make me happier in the end.

Yesterday, I was facebook stalking some of my high-school classmates (Yes, I admit it… I facebook stalk). There were lots of pictures of my old classmates doing things that would never be acceptable to the "honor code police". There were more than just a few pictures of one or more of my classmates holding a gigantic bottle of alcohol in one hand, doing the thumbs up with the other, and grinning. Their pictures had the inferred caption, "life is short, so party hard".

They look pretty happy with themselves in their pictures. But looks can be deceiving. Are they really happy people? 

I can't help but wonder, what will their lives be like in five, ten, twenty years? Do they know the impact that these choices they're making now will have on their future? I wish they knew what I knew.

People are like kites. They can truly fly when they're attached by a string. But once the string is cut, the kite stops flying, and instead starts spiraling down, down, down.  We need the string--the rules--because they help us reach our fullest potential. And for this, I am thankful.