Thursday, February 11, 2016

Fog, and the path to happiness

Hey all:) 

Today I decided to go to the temple. I wanted to go to the Draper temple, but I didn't quite know how to get there. I used maps on my phone to get there. For those of you who don't live in the Utah valley, today there was very heavy fog. Now, living in the desert of Gallup, New Mexico, I haven't seen many days with fog.  In fact, I can count on one hand how many times I have seen fog.  It's just not something you normally see. So this was a new experience, especially fog this thick. 

I digress.  While driving to the Draper temple, faithfully following my GPS, it said I had arrived at my destination. Dubious, I looked around. "This doesn't look like its around the temple," I thought.  And then the thought came, "look up!" The temple was right in front of me! I had made it. Unfortunately, I didn't think my trip through and didn't look up the temple hours before I got there. The temple is closed for cleaning. So, I got in my car and drove to the Oquirrh mountain temple. I had been to this one w couple times, and drove by it a lot when I lived with my grandparents the week before I moved into my apartment back in August. I knew where to go, but, once again, the fog was shrouding the temple from my view. I had to trust my previous knowledge that it was there. Once again, it didn't show itself to me until I was just about to turn into the parking lot. 

These two experiences spurned thoughts about eternal happiness, God, the road to happiness, etc. Here are some of my thoughts from today (not exactly in the bathtub, but still good thoughts😊). 

Oftentimes on the path to eternal happiness, we can't see where we are going, but we trust our GPS (Gospel Positioning System) to guide us where we need to go. There are obstacles blocking the end from our view. There are mountains we may need to climb or go around. The night might be upon us. There may be fog clouding our vision up to the point that we are at our destination. 

Sometimes we have been there before and must trust our knowledge of where it should be. Sometimes we have never been there, and must rely on another's directions to guide us through. We trust that our GPS will not lead us astray, so we follow its guidance and direction. Often we make a wrong turn, but the great thing about GPS is that it can redirect from anywhere and get us to our final destination safely, even if it is a different road than others take. 

God knows the path to our eternal happiness. He's the one that showed it to us, or the prophets whose voice we follow (our GPS). He knows how to direct us through and around the obstacles. If we but have faith in His GPS, we will receive to happiness promised to us, and may even enjoy the journey and the view along the way. Nothing Satan puts in our path (detours, construction, speed bumps), our Heavenly Father will help us navigate beyond them. If we but follow His path, whether it be one we have travelled before, or one we have never seen, we can trust that he will "lead [us], guide [us], walk beside [us]." He will not fail us nor forsake us. All we need to do is have faith in his plan, his direction, his commandments, and his GPS. 

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