Making Righteous Choices

“Why are so many resolutions made and so few kept? The answer is simple: it is hard to break bad habits. A bad habit is a false tradition. Bad habits or false traditions are difficult to change. It takes real determination and resolve to make the change. Remember that our behavior is a result of years of decision making and that those decisions, however small, determine our habits and our traditions.

“Life is all about making choices. We cannot avoid it. We make them consciously or seemingly unconsciously all day long. When we make our choices, we always support one of two possible options. We are either obedient to true principles and choose that course of action, or we choose disobedience and live false traditions. Those are the two options. I define this process of making choices as the ‘principle of responsibility.’ We are all ultimately responsible for the choices we make.”

Elder Richard J. Maynes of the Seventy, “The Choices We Make,” devotional address, LDS Business College, 10 Jan. 2001.