The path

3 Nephi 27:33

Enter ye in at the strait gate; for strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it; but wide is the gate, and broad the way which leads to death, and many there be that travel therein,

One definition of strait is close, or intimate. Another is strict, or rigorous. A third is a narrow pass or passage. We all understand that the strait “gate” that the Savior refers to is “baptism for the remission of sins and laying on of hands for the Gift of The Holy Ghost” (4th Article of Faith). Indeed, it is close and intimate, but strict and rigorous, and the entrance is narrow, only through baptism may we enter the gate and embark on the path.


My concern this month focuses on the narrow “way” that, after entering the gate, each of us must travel to return to our Father-in-Heaven. All of us have felt the waters of remission close over our heads, and the inexpressible joy of emerging from the waters clean and pure. All of us have had hands laid on our heads and have been admonished to “receive the Holy Ghost.” So we have entered in at the gate. We have been given our guide. We have embarked on the path. We have been instructed that it is narrow and that it is easy to depart from it. We have been cautioned by leaders and prophets to cling to the symbolic iron rod (the gospel) and use the Gift of the Holy Ghost as our guide to navigate the path to eternal life with our Father-in-Heaven, our Elder Brother, and our eternal family.

Often, we (at least I) feel that the way is too difficult, the journey too arduous and demanding. Often we falter or stumble in one way or another – we sin. The adversary’s cunning is nowhere more exercised than when we have wavered from the path – even a little. He whispers (and sometimes shouts) that all is lost. We can never recover. We should give up and join the mockers in the great and spacious building.

 Of course, all of his whisperings are deceit, but they sometimes seem to carry the ring of truth. They sound alluring, and certainly easier than making the climb back up to the narrow path.

 While the path is narrow, it is not untrodden. Many have gone before us. Many are the feet that have packed the path into a well-worn way. Our faithful parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and ancestors all the way back up the family tree to our first parents, Adam and Eve themselves, have walked the same way we are passing. True it is that their trials and hardships are different than ours, but true it is that they endured and reached the goal, and so can we. Neal a Maxwell said this:

"...the strait and narrow path, though clearly marked, is a path, not a freeway nor an escalator. Indeed, there are times when the only way the strait and narrow path can be followed is on one's knees!"

Helping us along the path, we can feel the influence of those who have passed before: Guardian angels, ancestors, leaders, friends, and often most important, the guidance and companionship of a good spouse. The Savior himself has walked the path of mortality, temptation, pain, and tribulation, and has experienced the inexpressible joy of completing His mortal task. One of our hymns, How great the Wisdom and the Love, speaks plainly about His personal journey along the path:

“He marked the path, and led the way, and every point defined, to light and life and endless day where God’s full presence shines.”

We are often preoccupied with our own journey. We often have our hands full just staying on the path, even on our knees. The Savior, however, not only made his own perfect journey, but along the way, he left the signposts and the directions we must follow. He defined every turn and twist, marked every false fork, every pitfall, and miraculously, in a way that mortal mind cannot comprehend, He suffered for our departures from the path: sins, sufferings and defeats, embarrassments and disappointments so that we might repent, be free of earthly cares, and stay on the path.

He, again miraculously, knows each of us personally. He knows our names, our thoughts and desires, our goals, our challenges, our weaknesses, and our strengths. He knows what trials and joys await each of us on the path because he chose them for us. When the way darkens, when we lose our compass, He will restore all if we ask. He rejoices in the asking; he thrills when we again, with new determination, renew the journey. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin encouraged us to see the Savior on the path ahead:

"Even though the tasks of life become heavy, and although sorrow thrusts a drooping burden upon us, the light that emanates from our Savior beckons us on, undismayed."

Remember that the Savior, knowing that unrelenting hardship and trial would only cause failure, placed along the path not only challenges, but all the good things of this life and the life to come. We find love, support from other travelers, joy in giving, joy in receiving, testimony, eternal perspective, gifts of the spirit, children, grandchildren, the tinkling laughter of a child, temple ordinances and eternal sealings, the scriptures, sublime art, music, prose and poetry, the blessings of prophetic guidance, forgiveness, and a thousand other temporal and eternal rewards, many of which we do not yet comprehend. Bruce R. McConkie said this:

"Everyone in the Church who is on the straight and narrow path, who is striving and struggling and desiring to do what is right, though far from perfect in this life; if he passes out of this life while he’s on the straight and narrow, he’s going to go on to eternal reward in his Father’s kingdom.
“We don’t need to get a complex or get a feeling that you have to be perfect to be saved. … The way it operates is this: you get on the path that’s named the ‘straight and narrow.’ You do it by entering the gate of repentance and baptism. The straight and narrow path leads from the gate of repentance and baptism, a very great distance, to a reward that’s called eternal life. … Now is the time and the day of your salvation, so if you’re working zealously in this life—though you haven’t fully overcome the world and you haven’t done all you hoped you might do—you’re still going to be saved”

When you feel overwhelmed by the demands of “the path” when you feel that you cannot meet the test, when the evil one whispers that you must fail, remember Elder McConkie’s counsel. Work with all your might, keep the reward in sight, repent when you must, and do not demand perfection of yourself. Remember that the Savior walks with you. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, in October 1995 General Conference, said the following:

“To those who stagger or stumble, he is there to steady and strengthen us. In the end he is there to save us, and for all this he gave his life. However dim our days may seem they have been darker for the Savior of the world.

In fact, in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, our Lord of this sacrament table has chosen to retain for the benefit of his disciples the wounds in his hands and his feet and his side—signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and perfect. Signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn’t love you. It is the wounded Christ who is the captain of our soul—he who yet bears the scars of sacrifice, the lesions of love and humility and forgiveness.

Those wounds are what he invites young and old, then and now, to step forward and see and feel (see 3 Ne. 11:15; 3 Ne. 18:25). Then we remember with Isaiah that it was for each of us that our Master was ‘despised and rejected … ; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief’ (Isaiah 53:3).”

President Howard W. Hunter said:

“Part of our difficulty as we strive to acquire spirituality is the feeling that there is much to do and that we are falling far short. Perfection is something yet ahead for every one of us; but we can capitalize on our strengths, begin where we are, and seek after the happiness that can be found in pursuing the things of God.”

“Perfection is something yet ahead for every one of us.” A comforting thought, but it doesn’t absolve us from walking the path to perfection, from following in the footsteps of the legions who have gone before. President Hinckley said:

“Get a temple recommend and never, never as long as you live think anything, say anything, do anything which would make you ineligible for that temple recommend. And if you will live up to all the requirements of a temple recommend, you may be sure that you are living the gospel and doing what the Lord expects of you.”

So the standard is set, and it is fairly simple: Begin where you are. Get on the path. Get on your knees. Use your strengths. Work to overcome your weaknesses. Recognize the joy of the journey. Repent when you must. Endure (enjoy) to the end. Forgive others and yourself. And finally, to stay on the path, always live so as to be worthy to be able to go to the temple. All else is corollary to that challenge. President Hinckley said:

"Please don't nag yourself with thoughts of failure. Do not set goals far beyond your capacity to achieve. Simply do what you can do, in the best way you know, and the Lord will accept of your effort."