Intro
On the drive to my 7:30 pm proxy endowment, I played the Seminary song “Free to Choose” and felt the nudge to write. The song isn’t about doing whatever I want; it’s about turning agency toward the light—again and again. When it says:
“So I choose freedom,
and there I learn to walk within the light…
what leads me to free to choose again—
and again…”
that’s discipleship: choices that keep future choices open. And when it warns,
“If I refuse… don’t be confused;
…can slip and fall—
got to stay free to choose,”
it’s honest about missteps. Freedom shrinks when I’m captured by habits, pride, anger, or appetite; it grows when I repent and realign with Jesus Christ. That’s why the temple fits this song so well.
Song: Free to Choose (Seminary album, 1987)
I’m free to choose,
to win or lose,
no matter who
comes and tries to turn my head around—
and I’ll be fine.
I’m in control;
I’m free to choose,
I’m free to choose.
I’ve heard the news
that I can choose
the song I sing and what I want to say—
what I got tied.
I will set my goals,
’cause I’m free to choose.
So I choose freedom,
and there I learn to walk within the light.
He said I’ll choose
what leads me to free to choose again—
and again—so when I choose,
If I refuse,
don’t be confused;
just understand that I can cross the line,
can slip and fall—
got to stay free to choose.
Choose what I will be;
I am free to choose.
So I choose freedom—
I am free to choose.
How the song teaches agency (my takeaway)
• “I will set my goals”—Agency is deliberate, not drift.
• “Walk within the light”—Freedom is not rebellion; it’s alignment.
• “Choose again—and again”—Agency is renewed daily on the covenant path.
• “If I refuse… can slip and fall”—Repentance restores freedom; sin constricts it.
• “Got to stay free to choose”—Guard the heart from anything that addicts, divides, or dulls the Spirit.
Reinforced by Elder Neal A. Maxwell
“[God] wants us to have joy. We cannot do that unless we are free to choose. But neither can we have that joy unless we are willing to be spiritually submissive day in, day out, and unless we exercise that grand and glorious freedom to choose in which people truly matter more than stars.”
— Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “Free to Choose,” BYU Devotional, March 16, 2004
“So, brothers and sisters, here we are in Eden, and Eden has become Babylon… Even if we leave Babylon, some of us endeavor to keep a second residence there… Babylon does not give exit permits gladly… No wonder Jesus’s marvelous invitation to leave Babylon’s slums and join Him in the stunning spiritual highlands goes largely unheeded.”
— Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “A Wonderful Flood of Light,” BYU Devotional, March 26, 1989
Final reflection
Agency is God’s gift; joy is the fruit of using it His way. The world shouts for weekend commutes back to Babylon. The temple whispers, “Choose light again.” Tonight I choose freedom by choosing Christ—so I can keep choosing tomorrow.
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