Living the commandments makes us free

There are some people who insist that "having to obey" the commandments, or any set of rules, is limiting and enslaves us.  This just is not so.

Quite frankly it is the exact opposite.  Let me illustrate.  Years ago we lived in the Chicago suburbs where there is a very heavily trafficked thoroughfare called Milwaukee Avenue.  This main artery of traffic cuts north by northwest through suburban Chicagoland and carries tens of thousands of cars daily.

There's a joke in Chicago that there are only two seasons: Winter and Road Construction Season.  That's because the roads take a terrible toll during the harsh winters and need a lot of repair.  One spring they decided to resurface Milwaukee Avenue.  Because of the excessive amount of commuters that use it, they tried to work feverishly late at night in order to have it ready for rush hour.

Unfortunately, they got everything done except putting the lines back on the road that marked which lane you were in and where the dividing line between the two directions of traffic fell.

The result was a historic mess.  Frozen by uncertainty and fear, traffic moved slowly if at all and backed up for miles and miles.  Finally after another night or two of feverish work, the lines were restored.  Once back to normal, traffic moved at its regular pace.

Why does having boundaries help us to move more freely?  It's because of the confidence they give us.

God loves us so much and He gives us commandments to protect us that we may be free to live our lives and travel the way we need to in mortality.  Quite the contrary to conventional thinking about the "restrictions" that come with living our faith and keeping the commandments, we don't "have to obey" anything.  God gave us our agency and we are free to choose.

But by providing the boundaries and guidelines through the commandments, if we choose to live by them, we can operate with confidence and our progress picks up speed.  We are actually more free than if we fell prey to the many enslavements that fall on the other side of those boundaries and guidelines.

Our loving Father in Heaven gave us freedom and He wants us to live free unencumbered by the pitfalls of life.  In order for us to know best how to live free, he provided the commandments as a great gift of guidance.  May we all learn to accept and enjoy this gift and the accompanying freedom it provides.