Meridian Magazine :: Journey into Autumn: Journeying into Faith

Share the article on this page with a friend.
Click here.

Journeying into Faith
By Richard Eyre

Editor's note: This weekly column focuses on physical and spiritual journeys, the autumn of life, notes on life's passage, and the life of a seeker. Read the first column here.

Journey

As I sat in Sunday School this week, my mind wandered to what I would write for this column. We had not traveled or "journeyed" anywhere since we got home from China, so I wondered what I would put in this first section.

But as often happens in church, I just listened to the lesson, and one thought led to another. We were talking about John the Baptist and about why Nephi said we must be baptized, and a different kind of journey began to materialize in my mind. Focus with me for a minute on verses 18-20 of 2 Nephi 31:

18 And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive.

19 And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.

20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

Questions: Why is "strait" spelled like that? A strait is a difficult, narrow, winding passage of water. What is the relation of the strait to the gate? Isn't strait a nautical term (the Strait of Hormuz, the Strait of Magellan)? And aren't "steadfast" and "brightness" also adaptable to a seafaring metaphor? The draft of a poem began to form:

The Gate to the Strait
Why even go? Danger on every side. Forces of dark.
Because the end destination is worth all!
So we embark.
Even the beginning gate is hard, requiring faith's power to open,
And then the narrow strait, rocks and shoals, hurricane winds, pirates.
Press forward, hold the wind always in the sails
or waves will slide us sideways.
Steady, fast, steadfast!
Get beyond the storm, endure,
Watch for, strive for the perfect brightness.
Live. Live on!

Autumn

Besides the journey into faith, there is always the journey into time. The thing that helps us most dramatically to see the pace of this travel is our grandchildren. Without them, we might think our time travel is pretty slow. I swear I still feel like I did when I was 30 or 35! I even try to swear that I still look the same. I can deny the mirror some days, or not notice it very much. But I can't deny 16 grandkids who each seem to double in size and cleverness and maturity each time I see them. Their rapid journey into time testifies and reminds me of my own. Their early spring testifies of my entry into autumn.

But oh, the richness of this season. The color of it makes summer seem drab. The gifts overwhelm! How could any other gift compare with a new grandson (son number four expecting grandchild number 17) or with a new daughter (son number five engaged to daughter-to-be)!

And then I hear on the news last night that exercise and weight-lifting can even reverse aging in some ways, and that dark chocolate is good for the heart! Then someone tells me that 60 is the new 40 (and I believe him!)

Of course you also wake up with a new ache or pain, and some are serious, but it all adds to who we are and where we are and where we are going.

Notes

I have decided that the first four principles of the Gospel are also the deepest four principles. How long did Joseph probe faith, and his "lectures" on the subject just proved the principle bottomless.

I started thinking about the second principle one day last month as I jogged on a golden beach in Australia. I caught a glimpse of a shell lying on the sand. "That was a nice one," I thought as I sped by. "I ought to pick it up and bring it home." But I was well past by then, and it would slow me down if I turn around, and there would be other shells up ahead.

But you know what? That was a great shell, and I may not see another one, so I turned around and went back for it.

The hardest kind of repenting, I think, is on the sins of omission. We pass a motorist with a flat tire, and we think, "That will slow me down. I'm already past; it would be hard to turn around. Someone else will stop to help him."

Too busy to stop, too hard to help, too inconvenient to listen. A beggar on the street, someone sitting alone in church, a new move-in down the block. I'm already passed, someone else will stop, he'll be all right. They are all the wrong assumptions, the wrong conclusions.

Some people (my wife for one) have natural empathy, inherent compassion, automatic tendencies toward nurturing and helping and understanding. Others, like myself, feel a skill and an aptitude for empathy, but know we have to develop it by practice and by determination and by resolution.

But oh, is it worth it! Because repentance is harder when it comes to sins of omission than it is on sins of commission. Think about it. When we commit a sin, we are often able to undo it, or at least make restitution and try to correct it, even long after the fact. But with a sin of omission, the moment passes, or the person passes, or we pass, and we may never have the chance again.

Seeker

So let’s ask the question again this week: What are we seeking? There is no all encompassing answer, I suppose, but keep sharing your thoughts on this with me (I love the e mails I get each week.) The best answer I have is that I am seeking to love more! There is no end of things to learn to love in this world.

As I write, I am looking out at a snowy pine covered mountain and I feel a love for nature and for this world. That leads to a love for its Creator. Linda is lying, still asleep this early morning, next to where I sit, and I am overwhelmed with love for her as my partner and soul mate, and that love also leads to a love for God and for the three-way partnership we strive to have with Him. I look up at a pattern we have on our ceiling that represents each of our kids, and I'm grateful for a deeper love than I thought possible for them, which connects again to the love I feel for their (and my) true Father.

But even as I feel all these loves, I know there is more. I know I need to love more, I know I am deficient and far from what is possible in the pure love of Christ that we call charity. I know I take so much for granted, a tendency that always robs us of love. I know there are people I don't love enough because of my selfishness, and blessings I don't love enough because of my lack of awareness and perspective.

May we all keep learning to love, and to love more, and more, and more. May we learn from He who loves all, and who gives all. See you next week.

Return to top of Article

Click here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.

About the Author:

A former Mission President in London and candidate for Utah governor, Richard was the director of the White House Conference on Parents and Children for President Reagan. He served on the President's advisory panel for secondary and higher education. A graduate of the Harvard Business School, he headed a management consulting company for 20 years before giving it up to meet the growing demands of his writing and speaking schedule.

Richard and his wife Linda are parents of nine children and authors of a dozen bestselling family and parenting books. They are now focusing on the phase they are entering: Empty Nest Parenting. Through their web sites valuesparenting.com and familynightlessons.com, their frequent national media appearances and theirspeaking and lecture tours (see http://www.theeyres.com/), they continue to work at their mission statement which is, "FORTIFY FAMILIES, popularize parenting, bolster balance, and validate values."