Why am I a Mormon?

Spurred by the phenomenal PBS program "The Mormons" which aired last night, and is continuing tonight, I've begun to ask myself this question: Why am I a Mormon?

The New York Times, in a review of the program, wrote:

A proposition: If your beliefs are any good, you needn’t be afraid to bring them out into the light. The proof: “The Mormons,” a thoughtful two-part series tonight and tomorrow on PBS. The tenets of the Mormon church may not be to everyone’s tastes, but the church members and leaders who speak in this program are admirably forthright about their religion’s history, strengths and challenges. It’s great to hear people who believe in something and can articulate it without sounding crazy or defensive.

Agreed, agreed. It is profitable to review peripheral things sometimes. Many parts of last eves historical analysis aren't things at the epicenter of our day-to-day faith and testimony. For instance, it was horrible to hear the account of the Mountain Meadow Massacre and to hear my beloved Cedar City mentioned as the sort of headquarters for plotting. I feel as badly for those poor people from Arkansas as I do for the folks at Hans Mill. All this is quite internally provocative so I'd like to share my reasons for being a Mormon:

1. My life has been good -- living good, having joy, is what I desire
2. My body, my mind, my heart is good
3. I feel the vitality of my own spirit
4. When I have engaged my body, my mind, my heart and my spirit in testing faith in God and his gospel I have had profound and simple clarity and peace
5. I am challenged to become, to progress, to enlarge, to soften, to acknowledge that my lifetime is an opportunity to use my agency to approach and follow God
6. I desire knowledge
7. Humankind, mankind/womankind, is a species I celebrate and weep for . . . and when I consider that God created us and watches us and knows each of us as a Father . . . his joy and pain must be exquisite
8. I love the Book of Mormon -- it's presence as a witness to the world that people everywhere or anywhere can invite God into their lives and receive counsel from Him. The Book of Mormon shatters place and time and becomes a glorious statement of Gods universal, timeless, love and relevance
9. I am frequently humbled and reminded of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice and my need for repentance
10. Initially (and foundationally) to have been taught this tradition by loving parents and grandparents was and is the rarest and sweetest of all gifts in this life of mine
11. With every gospel principle there is potential
12. I believe God when he tells me he loves me but more so because I have felt it
13. Wonder of all wonders! I believe in that complex man and prophet Joseph Smith! He in many ways epitomizes all of us (1) in that we are all subject to our world and its influences on our lives and the conflict that brings to someone who wants to follow God and (2) how divinely patient and comprehending God is of his creations, though imperfect, He sees our purpose and potential
14. Guilt and regret over transgression/mistakes I have made have been some of the most painful things in my life. It is such a power, a gift, to know how to rid oneself through repentance and when forgiveness comes, the cleanliness, the peace. . . there is nothing like that feeling and I thank God for it
15. Scriptures like this: Mosiah 30-31, "Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespass against me.", "And ye shall also forgive one another your trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his neighbors trespasses when he says hat he repents, the same hath brought himself under condemnation"
16. For humbling missionary/convert stories as told in Alma 22:15-18
17. I am connected to people -- 12 million in this church. I have felt a familiarity with all I have visited in Utah, Nevada, Colorado, West Virginia, Alabama, Pennsylvania, New York, Wales, Germany, Italy, Russia, Estonia (and NPJ in Kazakhstan)
18. Gratitude -- I constantly feel grateful for my life and all its uncertainties and blessings -- I cherish the fact that I know who I can thank for all these things
19. The Holy Ghost -- a companion sent from God to me to whisper and confirm and warn and guide. Its a miraculous gift
20. The 13th Article of Faith
21. Valiant examples of people in the church reaching and serving and loving . . . I have known some very remarkable people
22. Prayer -- a power few people understand, a power I have need to employ more ardently. I love praying with mylittlefamily, what a solidifying gospel principle!
23. For those rare encounters with Pentecostal converts -- such liveliness, such language!
24. For explanations such as this (from Spencer W. Kimball): "If pain and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no soul would repeat a misdeed. If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil -- all would do good and not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no testing of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency . . . there would also be an absence of joy, success, resurrection, eternal life and godhood."