Last week, I needed to get from work down to a party. Before I left work, I charted out my course on Google maps, a trusty resource. As you can see in the above map, There is a road, Highway 616, that goes straight from Point A to Point B. I figured that was the easiest path. Google actually suggested I go Northeast for a while before heading south on the freeway. I thought that was silly. I studied the map for probably a good 10 minutes. I didn't want to print it out, because I was still at work and didn't want to "mix personal business"... at least too much.
So I headed off on my journey. I had written down some rough notes to help remind me. I was relying on my picture-like memory, since I could still very clearly see the Google map in my mind. "Just follow the big yellow road" I thought. Well the road actually isn't big and yellow, but crazy up and down and all around. I missed the first turn. When I turned around and back on track, the nice Mr. Volunteer Fireman told me the road was closed, so I turned around - now my great "Follow the big 616 all the way down" was utterly thwarted. I had a map in the back, but thought I'd carry on. I called a good friend and she looked at the map on her end as I fled down the crooked curvy back roads of farm lands and forests.
It turns out my friend thought I was somewhere different than I actually was, so that threw me way off. Then I lost reception, and was on my own. When I started seeing signs for the Maryland border, I knew I was in trouble, so finally I pulled into a gas station and looked at a map. I discovered that I had almost gone in a full circle, if I would have continued. The blue path in the map above is the actual path I drove. It took an hour instead of 30 minutes. I finally found the house and enjoyed the party.
On the way home, I asked the host the quickest way to the highway, staying as far away as I could from back roads. Once on the high way, it was of course smooth sailing. But then, without warning or reason, the speedometer needle totally dropped to zero. I had no idea how fast I was going so I just zipped along with the crowd. Hopefully we all weren't going 80. The highway was of course much easier and I didn't even have to think. When I was 2 minutes away from my home, in the middle of turning through a busy intersection, the manual transmission totally stalled and died and I drifted to a stop on the side of the road, luckily avoiding any accidents. I restarted the car and finally made it home. I did not like car trips very much that night.
The more I thought about my experiences, the more I thought of all sorts of small parallels to life. The comparisons below aren't necessarily related to each other, but are all individual lessons I learned from my travels that night.
1. Life isn't as smooth and rosy as the picture books. On the map, the road was straight, but in reality, it was full of little turns and curves and hills and dips that can't be shown. I know that living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith makes life so much better and happier, but that certainly doesn't mean there won't be the day-to-day turns and hills of life - it's all part of the journey. Life will always be hard, but with the Gospel on our side, we'll have the added strength to stay on course.
2. "Map Binges" don't work. Even though I studied the map for a long time, it didn't help me later. Some things, like brushing your teeth, just aren't good unless they're done regularly. Brushing for 30 minutes once a week isn't the same as 1 minute 30 times a week. We can't expect to say a weekly prayer or have our "scripture fill" on Sunday and call it good. Such things require constant and consistent effort and application. Only with daily prayer and study can we stay on the right course that will lead us to our Final Destination, that Heavenly Home where we once belonged.
3. We can't rely on the knowledge of others. As good-intentioned and well-meaning my friend was, the fact is, she led me astray. We can't ONLY rely on others, no matter how strong they are or how much we trust them, for spiritual guidance. We must know for OURSELVES. To work together and listen to others is a must, but even the words of the Prophet we must gain a testimony of for ourselves through prayer and study. Ultimately, we are responsible for our own Salvation, and even though she led me off track, I had no one to blame but myself.
4. Follow The Lord, He Knows the Way! My source of "heavenly knowledge" in this case was the ever-trusty Google maps. And even though it directed me one way, I thought I knew better and charted my own course. How wrong I was. The Lord always knows best and we should not seek to counsel Him or alter His words. But before we heed His words, we must Hear them - from the scriptures, from living prophets, from the local priesthood and church leaders, from the Spirit directly to us. Once we hear and understand the voice of the Lord, we surely must obey. Otherwise, we'll end up in Maryland!
5. Without gauges, we lose sense of Who we Are. As I drove home on the highway, I lost all ability to know how fast I was going. I just followed the others. I could have been going 90 mph without even noticing, because all the cars around me were doing the same. In life, when we just go with the flow and try to keep up with our friends, and just do what they're doing, we may easily find ourselves in a situation we never thought we would be in. The Speedometers of life are perhaps priesthood interviews, or talks with your parents, or a personal inventory during Sacrament, or a temple recommend interview, or other things like For the Strength of Youth guidelines. These all provide opportunities and tools for us to Check ourselves against standards to make sure that we're living the way we should, and not in danger of a speeding ticket, or worse, a crash.
1 comment:
I resent number three.
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