Excerpts from a letter about truth

A while back I wrote a letter to one of my children about truth, but I never sent it. Looking back, its clear that I used too many words. But I still feel strongly about the benefits of the pursuit of truth. So here are some of those thoughts, with some of the words changed and many of them removed. I would be interested to know, in the end, who it was written for.

Dear [one of my children],

I was thinking about you this morning and felt I should share with you some thoughts that I have been having. It seems to me that you are at a crossroads in your life. You’ve been thinking a lot, you’ve begun to recognize patterns of behavior that lead to happiness, joy and satisfaction, as well as those that lead to discontent and unwanted consequences. It looks to me like you have identified some things in life that are important for the future, and you are trying to incorporate those elements into your life…

[As you do this,] I want you to consider an … approach… It is that you seek out and truly embrace reliable sources of truth and happiness that extend beyond your own experience, reason, intellect, and passion. This will require…effort and…humility… 

[Y]ou are free and have the power to choose your course and the influences that you invite and permit to remain in your life. You are not free, however, to choose the impact of your course and of the influences you invite into your life, any more than you can choose the destination to which a particular road leads.

I believe that as you put forth the effort to humbly and actively seek out and embrace reliable sources of truth to guide [you], that you will move rapidly toward a fuller and more satisfying life experience, with supportive and rewarding relationships, meaningful endeavor, exhilarating recreation, and a significant contribution to the world around you. I believe in your capacity to carefully consider and identify the value of this counsel for yourself.

I want to conclude with an expression of my firm conviction that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is the most complete repository of the most valuable elements of truth and counsel for a happy and rewarding life, both now and in the future, both in this life and in a life to come. Sometimes it requires faith to see how gospel teachings can bring happiness. Sacrifice…, for instance,  may seem contrary to personal pleasure. But the God of our spirits knows more about our natures and the things that will bring [lasting] happiness than we do, and humbly following his counsel in faith can bring joy that cannot be imagined by those who have never [done] it. This has been my experience.

Love, Dad