DON'T JUMP OVER THE FENCE!

When I was in high school, sometimes I felt restricted.
Confined.
"Un-free."

I wanted a later curfew on the weekends.
I wanted to choose what movies I watched.
I wanted to have sleep overs with my girlfriends,
I wanted to be allowed to stay up however late I wanted on... get this... A SCHOOL NIGHT.

And then I got to college.

I can stay out however late I want on the weekends!
My parents don't expect me to text them to ask them if I can watch a given movie.
I live with one of my girlfriends. Slumber party every night!
And ain't no one comin in my room at night saying, "Lights off, please!!"

But you know what?

I still try to go to bed at reasonable hour on the weekends.
I don't watch R-rated movies.
Our slumber parties consist of doing our homework and cleaning our room,
And our lights are out by like 11. Not bad for college, eh?

It doesn't make sense! I should be pulling all nighters every night of the week!! I should be living it UP at college!!

But I learned something at Institute a couple weeks into school that helped this all make sense to me.

When I go to the zoo, I'm grateful for the bars.

When I go to the zoo, I'm grateful  that there are cages, and bars, and signs that say, "DON'T JUMP OVER THE FENCE!" I'm grateful there are zoo keepers that remind me to "Stay behind the rope, please!" And I'm grateful I can enjoy the zoo, despite being surrounded by animals that COULD KILL ME AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT. And, quite frankly, I'd rather not be mauled by a bear.

It's the same in life. In life, I'm grateful for the bars. I'm grateful that I have restrictions, and rules, and people lookin' out for me, whether they by my mother at night telling me to turn lights off, or my Relief Society President asking if I've done my visiting teaching this month. (Which, I totally have, just so you know.) Because, those bars? They're actually not restricting US at all. They restricting the bad, the evil, the extremely dangerous, like you'll realllllly regret jumping over the fence. Because those bars? The enable us to live in the world but not of the world, like Jesus taught us. Because those bars? They're keeping us safe. They're keeping us happy. And, in real life, they're keeping us very, very free.

So, let's decide to not get mauled by a bear, okay? Not at the zoo, and not in life.