Desire, fire.

 According to the desires of our hearts.

We read in the scriptures,  that the desires of our hearts will be granted.  I can't decide if this is the most telling characteristic of our loving God or if it is the most telling characteristic of human weakness. Maybe both.

     For our Heavenly Father to love us so much, and want us to be comfortable SO much that even though He loves us more than we can even begin to comprehend he would allow us to separate ourselves from Him- if that is truly our desire.
    This kinda hits me right here as a parent.  I don't really care how much my kids don't want to eat their veggies,  I know it will make them healthy and happy.  It is a struggle everyday to persuade them to partake of this happiness because of their immediate want for sugar.
    I don't know how old I was (I'm sure wayyy too old) when I finally began making the connection that a cookie for breakfast literally rendered me incapable of accomplishing anything the rest of the day.  That first sugar rush would bring on a headache so fast. I would battle the rest of the morning to stay coherent from the sugar drop and clamoring to climb back in to those warm blankets and shut my eyes... Oh glory-its naptime! followed by a long afternoon of no-motivation-to-eat-anything that could possibly pull me out of the slump because it just didn't taste good after the cookie. Except maybe more cookies. Those would taste good. Cycle repeat.  That sweetness was so darn hard to get away from.
    But kids, well, they love to run and play.  A kid sick on the couch is miserable (and encourages misery in those around him I might add). So is the sugar the desire of their hearts? Or is running and playing? I tend to see a lot more happiness from the kids running and playing long term than the ones crashing from sugar.  (Or maybe my kids are the only ones who suffer from sugar crashes in the most unattractive ways...) BUT we all know that it takes a few years before they will realize this and regulate their own sugar consumption.

    Perhaps that is the total sum of this life,  to define our desires.  Certainly there are elements of genetic, environmental and circumstantial influence.
    Elder Maxwell teaches,
        "Desire denotes a real longing or craving. Hence righteous desires are much more than passive preferences or fleeting feelings. Of course our genes, circumstances, and environments matter very much, and they shape us significantly. Yet there remains an inner zone in which we are sovereign, unless we abdicate. In this zone lies the essence of our individuality and our personal accountability."

     Weakness in that even if we know we will be miserable like unto Satan, we could even possibly still desire it over the blessings and happiness that could be. And that our Heavenly Father loves our liberty to choose-enough to let us choose it.  He loves us enough to teach us what our choices mean.  He loves us by letting even the smallest desire for good work and grow in us. He shows His confidence in us by giving us choice AND accountability. He wants us to be happy, but He won't force us to be happy. Anything achieved by force is accompanied by unhappiness.

  He honors us by letting us choose fire, if we so desire it.
   So what,  what do I desire?  I guess a good long look at my actions is the only true measure.  And if I disagree with what my actions are spelling out- I suppose its time to change them. Praying with my small amount of mustard seed faith to change my desires to His.