The More Excellent Way

I'd like to share an experience I had while hiking the "M" in Bozeman MT.

We decided to hike the "M" as one of our activities for a Preparation day. So we drove to the side of the "M" and all walked up to the beginning of a trail. The trail we picked was marked "difficult" on a sign. We soon found out it was true to its word, as we huffed and wheezed up the trail slowly. I was very eager to get to the top so I ran ahead of others even though I was tired already and it was pretty steep. I wanted to see the beautiful view and have time to appreciate it and take pictures without being left behind. I became very exhausted and I decided I had seen a lot and was gonna wait for the others to catch up. So we took a little while but eventually we got to the top. It was very taxing of your energy, it took it all out of you to do this hike. When we got to the "M" we took pictures and all of us were beat.

This view was well worth the hike though:

So we walked back down the trail after taking many pictures of the "M" and ourselves on the mountainside. We ended up taking different trails down the mountain. I got down to the more flat part of the trail near the end and came across this sign and it really struck me spiritually. I had to take a picture of it.

The most popular way to the "M"..... I definately saw this negatively. If we compare this hike to life, and these trails to the way you get to heaven (the "M" being heaven) we can gain a lot from this. So the trail we took to get to the M was very steep and very hard. It was extremely challenging, it was relatively straight though. The other trails, shortcuts, were very very winding and if you weren't careful you could get hurt. The thing that really hit me was that we gave our all in the trail we took. It took Everything we could give to get up that trail. I think the Lord expects us to give everything and to take His path in life. You don't need to take the most popular way or worldly way, it doesn't need to be the fastest. A direct route is more beneficial to you, Heavenly Father is waiting to show us the better way, the more excellent way(Ether 12:11). Lets not take a shortcut, which will lead us into winding paths, or a cutoff that is very dangerous. Let us take the more excellent way, or you might say the most excellent way. One way to do this is to ask Heavenly Father in prayer how to best live the way He wants you to. Ask him to guide you in your paths, and remember you can lean on His son whenever you fall down in this path of life. May we all strive to remember these things and follow the example of Jesus Christ and his teachings.

Elder Baer