Decision Making The Lord's Way | Steven C. Wheelwright

Steven C. Wheelwright was president of BYU--Hawaii when this devotional address was given on 26 May 2009. He teaches how decision making the Lord's way works. Agency, humility, gratitude, and faith are all key to the process.
This speech was given on May 26, 2009.
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“Good morning, brothers and sisters. It’s wonderful to be on this beautiful campus with you today. I thank President Samuelson for this opportunity, and I thank each of you for the great spirit you bring to this devotional this morning.
Today I’d like to consider one of the most basic tenets of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ-that of agency. Elder Richard G. Scott called agency “a vital element in our Father in Heaven’s plan of happiness.” And Elder Robert D. Hales said, “Our use of agency determines who we are and what we will be.”
While agency is a powerful, eternal principle, our approach to decision making can be considered its mortal embodiment. Agency, the ability to make our own decisions, is a great blessing bestowed by a loving Heavenly Father on all His sons and daughters. In 2 Nephi we read:
Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves-to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.
Choice is inevitably accompanied by opposing forces. Opposition is, in fact, the very essence of choice. Today I’d like to focus my remarks on some of the principles and processes of righteous decision making.
In the last chapter of Joel in the Old Testament, we read of a place called “the valley of decision,” a place where multitudes of people will be gathered to prepare for and await the Lord’s Second Coming. I like the powerful imagery of the phrase “the valley of decision” because I see it as analogous to the young adult stage of life-the current stage of life of the majority of you in this audience.
Most of you have already made the wise decision to further your education, but you may now be choosing what to study, what classes to take, and what career path to pursue. You may have had your roommates assigned to you, but you have the choice of whom to spend time with and how to spend your time. Hopefully you young men are considering serving a mission, or, if you have already served, you are choosing to maintain the righteous habits you acquired on your mission. And I suspect more than a few of you are deciding whom to date and even whom to marry and when. The list of decisions you each face goes on and on.
At this busy intersection of adolescence and adulthood, you are experiencing one of the highest per-diem decision rates you will ever face in mortality! If you learn to make decisions according to the Lord’s process, you will form one of the habits most critical to both your earthly and your eternal success...”