The Only Way to See the View is to Make the Climb

This morning me and my family took a hike up Waterfall Canyon in Ogden. It had been quite some time since we had hiked that trail, and my mom had never hiked it. It isn't too tough of a hike, but it taught me a lot. As we were hiking a long, we came upon a couple of forks in the trail. The first fork we came a upon was the trail head for a couple different hikes and had a sign that pointed to the trails, so we followed the trail that led to our desired destination, which ultimately was the waterfall. The next fork we came upon had no sign and the trials led in opposite directions. One that followed the river, and the other that lead away from it. So, using my logic I said we should probably take the one that follows the river since we want to get to the waterfall, and the other path leads us away from that. So, we took that trail and kept hiking along. As we got higher up towards the waterfall, the trail became harder to see, and got very rocky and rough and at one point we had to cross the river on a make shift bridge. Because of the large amount of runoff water we have this year, in many places the river has shifted courses to accommodate the amount of water coming down. As we were climbing across the rough terrain, my mom made a comment that really made me start thinking. She said, there has to have been another way to get to the waterfall, because this terrain is rough and there really isn't a trail. Sometimes the only indication we had that we were going the right way was that other people were coming down. Well, we continued the hike over rocks and river and we did reach our desired destination. The waterfall was extremely pretty, and with all the run off was pretty big! But, on my way back down the mountain I really got thinking about what my mom said, and this is how I related it to life..

We are all here on earth on our our own hike. All with a specific desired destination, like the waterfall, or in our case back to our Father in Heaven's presence. At the beginning of our hike, we are told where what our destination is and we are sent on our way. Sometimes there are signs that will point to our destination, other times we must choose which way we think will lead us to that destination. There will be multiple trails that lead us away from our destination, so we must think things through and decide which trail will ultimately lead us where we want to go. There will be things that will help indicate which path is right (like the river). As we travel on our trail of life, it won't be easy! We will have to climb over rocks, and cross gushing rivers, and continue on even when we can't see the trail clearly. Sometimes things will get in the way that will make our path change every once in a while. We will have to hike on a little bit tougher terrain because the path isn't clearly paved before us. We might get tired, we might doubt ourselves and our direction, but if we look around, and really assess our lives we will know if we are on the right path or not. Life was not meant to be easy, it was meant to be trying and to test us, and to see if we really can make it to our final destination. If we want the blessing of Celestial glory we have to put in the work to get there, just like if you want to see the waterfall you gotta make the hike.

Life won't be easy but it will be worth it because, "The only way to see the views is to make the climb." (Elder Paul V. Johnson)