In my mission prep class last semester, we had spiritual thoughts every class. Often they capture my attention. This one, I wanted to write about. Whoever gave the thought managed to compare the plan of salvation/gospel standards to a college major, specifically in neurosurgery. As a student majoring in neurosurgery takes classes, they gradually become more specific. That is, they start out with a wide variety of courses, electives, and Gen Ed requirements. As the years roll by, suddenly they are only taking increasingly more difficult classes on the brain and surgical technique, and they have to intern at a hospital before being able to graduate.
The Plan of Salvation can seem like that sometimes. As we grow, it can appear as if there's more and more standards, and piles of rules. Each step on the path seems narrower. Yet, we have to remember- we are not restricting- we are specializing. As this major becomes harder, we must remember that we chose this path for a good reason, and that it will bring us happiness. We must enjoy our "hard classes" and "internships" as much as we once enjoyed our electives and free time. This is our passion, and our life choice.
And it is less restricting than it might seem. Sure, you can't take certain classes, or may not have room for a lot of "fun," but there is still goodness. The choice is still left to us what to do with our future beyond this life and what to do beyond college. And even within this mortal time, we are allowed to choose our friends, our spouses, our likes and dislikes, how we spend what free time we do have- reading, writing, playing sports, hanging out with friends- and we get to choose whether or not to enjoy it.
That, I think, is the biggest trap of choosing a difficult path. While traveling a hard road, the hardest part can be remembering why we're on it. It can be bumpy, and narrow, and a little scary. It may lack a lot of lanes to choose from, or distant views of mountains and mesas. We may be stuck behind Grandma and Grandpa, who don't know how to drive faster than 35mph. But we chose that road for the way that it ends. And, just as certain as knowing the end, we know there is something about the road itself that pulled us in. We take the paths in life that captivate us, and the trick is to remember that.
The path may seem narrow, but truly, it isn't. It is wider than you believe, and you chose it for a reason. And the more narrow it seems, the closer you are to the end, to the destination- the top of the mountain, where suddenly everything is in full view and we are on top of the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment