“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And become one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I should be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
(The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost, 1916)
In this life, our mortal existence, there are two main roads
we can go by. One was warned about in his ministry to the Nephites in 3 Nephi
14:13, “for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leadeth to
destruction, and many there be who go in thereat;” the Savior tells the people
to, “Enter ye at the strait gate; . . . Because strait is the gate, and narrow
is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (3 Nephi
14:13-14) By following the Savior and entering the strait and narrow path we
can return to him and our Heavenly Father. We have entered into the path by the
gate of baptism. As discussed in 1 Nephi 31, we must now continue our journey
by continuing to be faithful and endure to the end. As we make this journey,
when we make good choices, the paths get further and further apart. But we can
still hear the noise from the other path. Because it is the road more
travelled, there may seem to be more things to do on the broad road. But we
must remember President Uchtdorf’s words, “If you are on the right path, it
will always be uphill.” The temple, one of our most sacred places, isn’t called
the Mountain of the Lord’s House for nothing. By going to the temple instead of
giving in to other activities when we feel we should attend, we are moving
uphill, closer to our Heavenly Father.
As we move further up towards our Heavenly Father it seems a
paradox that often times the noise of the lower path seems to get louder.
Outside influences keep on trying to get us to come down. Lehi experienced this
in his Dream of the Tree of Life. Even after he and others had partaken of it,
the people in the Great and Spacious Building still yelled and made fun. Some
people dropped the fruit and left the tree. (1 Nephi 8) A real life example of
this principle occurs in the war chapters of Alma. Amalakiah has been appointed
to bring a rebelling part of the Lamanite army back to the city so they can
fight the Nephites. These Lamanites are led by a man named Lehonti. Lehonti and
his people are safe at the top of a mountain. Twice, Amalakiah tries to entice
Lehonti to come down the mountain. He doesn’t. then Amalakiah goes almost all
the way up to the camp to talk to Lehonti. Lehonti agrees to come back to the
city with his men. On the way, Lehonti is poisoned by Amalakiah. It is as if
someone comes almost all the way up to the Lord’s strait path and says, “Oh,
this isn’t THAT bad! Have some fun.” If we agree and don’t look back we could
be, “carefully led down to hell.” (2 Nephi 28:21)
Contrast that to the experience of Nehemiah in the Old
Testament. After the Babylonian Captivity, some Israelites were allowed to
return to the Promised Land. The walls of Jerusalem had fallen into disrepair,
so Nehemiah and his companions began to fix it. Some other groups living there
did not want the wall to be built. If Nehemiah had a wall, the Jews could not
be controlled. So they went to Nehemiah and asked him to come off the wall and
stop working. He replied, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down:
why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” (Nehemiah
6:3) The wall was finished, and the temple cleansed. (6:15-16)
Although the journey up the mountain to Eternal Life may
seem harder than the downhill stroll along the broad road, and we will slip and
take some trips down in our lives, it is important to know that we do not take
the road on our own. The Savior is always right there beside us as we make the
journey, ready to pick us up as we stumble our way up. If we put him first in
our lives we will recognize the assistants he gives us.
We have a road map to help us in the journey. Before the
earth was even made, Heavenly Father created and instituted a Plan of Salvation
for his children. He told us of this plan in the Grand Council, and has had
prophets write the plan down in the scriptures. These maps, along with the
words of living prophets are our map to get back to Heavenly Father. We don’t
have to take the map and walk alone. The Holy Ghost can be our constant
companion. Also we have local and general leaders who walk along with us as our
guides. They will help and guide us.
Often temples are put on higher ground than the rest of the
city. Matthew 5:14 reminds us that a city set on a hill cannot be hid. As long
as we, like the pioneers, keep our faces and our steps toward our goal of
Eternal Life, we will be able to see it. Not with our physical eyes, but our
spirits know the way back. They can spiritually see where Christ is, and where
we want to end up. The Kingdom of Heaven is not under a bushel, it is at the
top of the hill.
Even with all these, we cannot make it up the path on our
own. At some point, the path has some chasms of spiritual and temporal death.
But do not worry. Heavenly Father has provided a Savior for us. Through the
Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can return back into their presence. Because of
the events that transpired in Gethsemane, Calvary, and the Garden Tomb, we are
saved from the major part of the journey that we cannot achieve. Because Christ
said, “Thy will and not mine be done,” (Luke 22:42) and because the angels at
the open tomb were able to say, “Why look ye for the living among the dead? He
is not here, he is risen,” (Luke 24:5-6) we are able to be saved. After all our
trials, we can say as Job, “And though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God.” (Job 19:26)
We have started up the road less taken. Those steps we have
already taken, and the continued walk, and help from Christ will make all the
difference in this life and in all eternity.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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