Enlightened Journey

The weather has turned cool again. Okay, so after checking what the temperature REALLY is, it actually can be qualified as cold. It's 38 degrees in my town this morning. Due to this, I bundled up my girls in the bike trailer with blankets and made sure the cover flaps were down to keep the wind off of them. I, too, bundled myself as comfortably as possible to ride my bike. Just last week I was wearing shorts and a tee shirt on this same trip!
As I rode down the street, I thought about how the trees are now keeping the sun off of me. It is amazing the perspective change I have, because I was previously grateful for the same shade because it kept me cool. Now it is too cold and I would have the trees line the other side of the road.
This got me thinking. There are none of God's creations that are bad. He created only good things. In the scriptures we are told that even the winds obey God. This is significant because we, as mortal men, don't always obey. He gave us an incredible gift that I am only now beginning to understand. Agency. We have the ability to choose. It is with this gift that we put good or evil into action. It is by US that things become a blessing or a curse, often by our perspective which causes us to choose.
These trees were giving the same gift: shade. However, in my current state I saw it as a curse. There was nothing that changed with these trees and their shade, only with me. Granted, the weather has changed, but that is on a continuous cycle and is influenced by the laws that are found in nature. I was the variable in the equation.
As we go about our days, we can recognize the great trust God placed in us by giving mortal man the opportunity and the responsibility to choose for themselves what they will do in this life. When a missionary, I was often confronted by people who would ask "why would God allow..." this terrible tragedy or this sadness. I wonder why they try to make God responsible for what man does. It is through the gift of agency that good and evil is enacted upon this earth, and it is done by man. God will not take that gift of agency away. He is a god of choice and truth and love. Only by making good and bad decisions do we grow and change and prove our mettle. Only by recognizing our ability and responsibility to choose do we gain the ability to change the world.