Utah Cursed Or Blessed? You Choose!

A few weeks ago I was watching the show Brigadoon, and something said in the show caught my attention.

If you're not familiar with the story, a couple of friends from America on on a hunting trip over in Scotland when they stumble across the little village of Brigadoon. There's one detail about the village. It seems decades ago one of the elders of the village, concerned about changes in the world, cast an enchantment on the village that caused them sleep, waking for only one day every 100 years. The two on the hunting trip happened to find the village on the one day it was to be awake.

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A young person in the village, Harry, was not at all pleased with the situation, feeling he would be robbed of opportunity to attend university and other life experiences. This was all exacerbated by the fact that the girl he wanted to marry was being wedded that day to another.

In speaking to one of the older ones in the village, in fact the father of the girl he wanted to marry, Harry said he had “nothing left to do but hate everyone and everything in this cursed town.”

Harry made those remarks to Mr. Campbell, and it was his response that caught my attention. The father of the bride replied, “this is only a cursed town if you make it so. To the rest of us 'tis a blessed place.”

That made me stop and think. I've thought of the times in my life where I was in what was to me an unhappy situation, and all the times I tried to externalize the reasons for that unhappiness. This lousy town, that crappy job. Any of that resonate with you?

Our lives are shaped not only by the circumstances we encounter but also by the choices we make in response to those circumstances. These choices have the power to lead us down paths of blessing or curse, shaping the course of our lives in profound ways.

At the heart of this dichotomy lies the concept of free will. We are endowed with the ability to make choices, to exercise agency in determining our actions and attitudes. It is through these choices that we navigate the complexities of life, charting our own course amidst a sea of possibilities.

Blessing and curse are not merely abstract concepts but tangible outcomes of our decisions. When we choose kindness over cruelty, honesty over deceit, and compassion over indifference, we pave the way for blessings to flow into our lives. Acts of generosity create bonds of goodwill, fostering a sense of abundance and interconnectedness. Likewise, cultivating gratitude and resilience in the face of adversity can transform hardships into opportunities for growth and learning.

Conversely, when we succumb to selfishness, resentment, and negativity, we invite curses into our lives. The consequences of our actions ripple outward, sowing discord and discontent in our relationships and communities. Bitterness takes root, poisoning our hearts and minds, and leading to a cycle of despair and disillusionment.

Ultimately, our lives are a reflection of the choices we make. By embracing kindness, gratitude, and resilience, we can cultivate a life filled with blessings, enriching our own lives and the lives of those around us. Conversely, by yielding to negativity and selfishness, we risk falling prey to a cycle of curse and discontent. The power lies within us to choose our path, to shape our destiny, and to live a life of meaning and purpose.

We even have the power to decide if our current situation is cursed or blessed.