Will is a word with many meanings. Will can represent our freedom and ability to make choices for ourselves. Will can be combined with other verbs to indicate our intention to take action in the future. A will is also a legal document that makes legally binding our desires even after we are dead. All three of these meanings are related. Satan would have us believe that free will means that we can do whatever we want right now and we shouldn't bother thinking about the future when we are making our decisions. But will is inextricably tied to the future. Having a true understanding of the agency with which our Heavenly Father blessed us is recognizing that every decision that we make now will have an impact on our future selves. The truth is that we can never go back exactly to who we were five years ago or five days ago or even five minutes ago. Our present self is always dying so that our future self can take its place. The choices that we make now are much more binding on our future selves than any legal will is binding on the children or other decedents of someone who has passed away. Our future selves must abide by the terms laid out by our present exercise of our free will and agency. If we do something stupid now, our future selves will still be paying for it long after our present self is dead and gone. For our will to be truly free, we need to leave our future selves with more freedom and options than we have in the present. That means we sometimes have to let our present wants and desires die unfulfilled, so that our future selves inherit strength and power and freedom rather than weakness and self-doubt and addiction. However, even if our past selves have left us with a disaster of a present estate and have traded away all of our agency for short sighted pleasures, that doesn't mean that we are totally without options. Through repentance and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our past will can be amended, our debts can be settled, and our will can be taken out of probate. If our will is in great shape now, then I hope we will continue to make good choices and leave our will in even better shape for our future selves. And if we've inherited a real mess from our past selves, then I hope we will turn our will over to our Savior Jesus Christ, so that He can help us get back on track.
