By KELLY KNIGHT / Guest Columnist

While in high school, my children had curfews. Attached to those curfews were rules, with rewards for obedience and discipline for disobedience.

One night, one of my daughters came in after curfew. I was still up when she came through the door and noticed that she dropped her purse on the table and headed straight for the kitchen where she began washing dishes and cleaning counters.

“What are you up to?” I asked. Her response made me proud. Knowing that she broke curfew, and that she would be disciplined, she was holding herself accountable for the choice she made to stay out late.

Mind you, she understood that it was not an option that she could stay out late and then simply enact her own form of discipline. She knew she broke a family rule and that she would be disciplined. To her, this repentance and self-discipline would serve as a reminder that she is accountable for breaking the rules, and she would be less likely to break them in the future.

From the beginning, our heavenly Father has set rules with expectations for our obedience and punishments for disobedience.

Adam and Eve were instructed that they could eat freely from the Garden of Eden, except for the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which they were instructed to avoid.

However, they exercised free will, partook of the forbidden fruit and received the requisite punishment. From Adam down to our day, God has provided commandments with the option to choose whether we obey or disobey His will. He has also provided a way out when the choice we make is contrary to His will — He gave his Son as a sacrifice.

As we go through life, we will undoubtedly make incorrect choices. When we do, may we hold ourselves accountable and come unto Christ that we might partake of the fruits of His atonement and seek forgiveness and an opportunity to start anew.

Kelly Knight of Calera is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints High Council. You can contact him at kellyknightonline@gmail.com.