The First Law of Heaven

On my walk today the thoughts that ran through my head seemed to form themselves automatically into a blog post :) So, here I am up on my soapbox (and at my height this is a dizzying feat). I was thinking about certain friends and family members of mine who are not very happy right now and why that might be. My first thought was that they were not being completely (or in some cases not even remotely) obedient to the things they have been taught. Obedience is the FIRST law of heaven. First being most important and having the most weight. What is obedience? Back in the day the people needed the Law of Moses to guide them because they just weren't quite there in understanding the spirit of the law. They had to have the letter of the law and believe me they utilized every letter of every alphabet known to man. They measured steps and had a law for every breath they took and were instructed down to the nth degree on everything they were supposed to be doing. Guess what? We are waaaayyyy beyond that now. We are so advanced and so cool and so "above" all that that we now have a higher law. This means that we are supposed to be able to understand "why" guidelines are given to us not just that they "are" given. So when we just barely keep the laws as we choose to interpret them, it looks like we are really chafing at those laws and are not really understanding the purpose of why they were given. We are just obeying because we are scared not to. When we drink every caffeinated drink except coffee and tea or wear immodest clothing right up until the day we go to the temple or use words that sound so much like swear words that they have the same meaning then we are showing that we don't really understand the principles of good health, purity and modesty and Christlike thoughts and language, we are just fulfilling the letter of the law so we don't get into trouble with our parents or our church. I submit that when we fully understand and live the law of obedience out of a true desire to receive the blessings waiting for us by doing so that then is the only time we can truly be happy. If we think about the purpose and love behind the law, we might see it in a different light and live it in a different way. As an added bonus we might help the Mormons keep that wonderful reputation of being a "peculiar" people.