The Longleaf Pine.

I believe we are captains previously trained to excel in sailing perilous waters. We were not born into an era unprepared.

President Nelson, I think, would agree.. as he taught the millenials in 2017:

"you are an elect son or daughter of God created in His image who was taught and prepared for everything you would encounter in your earthly existence, President Nelson encourages."

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/a-true-millennial-will-do-impossible-things?lang=eng

He also said in an instagram post 7 months ago:

"•You are an elect son or daughter of God.
•You were created in His image.
•You were taught in the spirit world to prepare you for anything and everything you would encounter during this latter part of these latter days. That teaching endures within you!

"Learn for yourselves who you really are. Ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, how He feels about you and your mission here on earth. If you ask with real intent, over time the Spirit will whisper the life-changing truth to you. Record those impressions and review them often, and follow through with exactness.

"I promise you that when you begin to catch even a glimpse of how your Heavenly Father sees you and what He is counting on you to do for Him, your life will never be the same!"

https://www.ldsliving.com/President-Nelson-Promises-Saints-If-They-Understand-This-One-Thing-Your-Life-Will-Never-Be-the-Same/s/91554


I agree. I believe we were born to do the "impossible".


I recently found a video about Longleaf Pines that inspired me and want to share it with you. If you are struggling right now, I suggest you see yourself as The Longleaf Pine. Through all these video segments, every time you hear anything said about a Longleaf Pine listen to it as if you are the Longleaf Pine. Fires help you, and you are integral to the benefit of those around you. You are crucial! You are very important. Do not give up! God Loves you and knows you can do this! He knows the circumstances are hard, and that you will grow strong and hard by such circumstances.

1 Nephi 20:10 "For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."

I am not advertising for a Youtube channel nor a donation cause.
This is a spiritual analogy, and one way I #HearHim.
So I invite you to:
Imagine Jesus beholding you, loving you(Mark 10:21).
I invite you to hear with more than ears and see with more than eyes.
See how this relates to your life.
(Tried to clip the shortest segments where the best parts were. If you want to watch the whole video I highly recommend it.)

3:30-5:30 https://youtu.be/qJWG7raBlT8?t=208

13:25-14:00 https://youtu.be/qJWG7raBlT8?t=807

22:00-27:04 https://youtu.be/qJWG7raBlT8?t=1316

31:27-37:00 https://youtu.be/qJWG7raBlT8?t=1887

41:00-42:25 https://youtu.be/qJWG7raBlT8?t=2461

47:30-49:30 or 49:50. https://youtu.be/qJWG7raBlT8?t=2857

54:15-56:21 https://youtu.be/qJWG7raBlT8?t=3255

Can you #HearHim?

I testify He Loves You. Hold on through these very hard times.
He speaks to you today. Come Unto Jesus.

Matthew 11:28-30

"Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light."

Show God, your Heavenly Father you love Him by keeping His Commandments given to you by Jesus His Son.

John 14:21

"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."

your friend and brother,
C.J. Baer

Jesus Christ, Rock.

 I must somewhat "catch up" in text to this point of time in my blog. Working jobs and studying music for 5 years, I left behind this blog, sadly. To end that long hiatus, I begin again a new post.

In this post I wish to share thoughts about studies from The Bible and The Book of Mormon concerning Jesus Christ.

I have come to rejoice in Jesus Christ! I took a challenge from Russel M. Nelson to read the Topical Guide references about Jesus Christ that take up 18 pages and list 57 subtitles of Jesus Christ. You can find this here.
https://www.lds.org/blog/i-studied-more-than-2200-scriptures-about-the-savior-in-six-weeks-here-is-a-little-of-what-i-learned?lang=eng

He gave an amazing Worldwide Devotional address in January 2017 and that link above is a follow up article with more detail concerning his studies.

Since then I still haven't finished my studying of the references. I have come through to "Jesus Christ, Rock" and am continuing to finish relatively soon here.
The references that became dear to me are these.
(I love these verses! The underlining and bolding are mine.
Brackets are the italics normally in the King James Version of the Bible, .)

1 Samuel 2:2

[There is] none holy as the LORD: for [there is] none beside thee: neither [is there] any rock like our God.

2 Samuel 22:2-4

And he said, The LORD [is] my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
The God of my rock; in him will I trust: [he is] my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.
I will call on the LORD, [who is] worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

2 Samuel 23:3

The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men [must be] just, ruling in the fear of God.

PSALM 18:1-2, 31, 46.

I WILL love thee, O LORD, my strength. 2 The LORD [is] my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, [and] my high tower. 

31 For who [is] God save the LORD? or who [is] a rock save our God? 

46 The LORD liveth; and blessed [be] my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.

PSALM 61 1-2

HEAR my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.
From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock [that] is higher than I.

PSALM 62:6

He only [is] my rock and my salvation: [he is] my defence; I shall not be moved.

2 Nephi 4:30

Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

2 Nephi 9:45

O, my beloved brethren, turn away from your sins; shake off the chains of him that would bind you fast; come unto that God who is the rock of your salvation.

I would submit to you a simple message.

If for one reason or another you feel you have hit "rock bottom" make sure you declare your rock. Make sure you claim the right rock as your foundation, your fortress, your buckler, your strength, your deliverer. You will soon find He is a high tower. You will soon find that you will stand on this rock and can "withstand every temptation of the devil, with [your] faith on the Lord Jesus Christ."(Alma 37:33, my own personal brackets added, adapted to your perspective instead of "their")
He has never failed, does not fail, and will not fail. He is unchangeable and irrefutable, and has conquered, does conquer, and will conquer all. You will find that there is none holy as the LORD, neither is there any rock like our God. So.
Declare the Rock of your Salvation, Today! Now!

your friend and brother,
C.J. Baer

Let's pull Weeds!!

Let's pull weeds everybody! It's so fun!
Yeah I know.. you're thinking: this guy is crazy.

No one I have ever met likes pulling weeds and few people even want to. When we get slack, they show up in the front yard. Some say it's impossible to keep them from coming. Others say it should just be ignored. Now I want to propose something to you.

Weeds are always showing up in life. Pulling weeds can be a draining process, taking lots of time and effort.  As we weed, sometimes we try to pull it all the way but miss a part of the root. This can result in the weed coming back later. Smaller weeds when ignored can grow to be bigger weeds, making them much harder to remove. Not even mentioning allergies, back pain, and itchiness, weeding is tough work. Is it really worth it in the end?

Let us compare weeds to sin.

We all sin. Sin makes us unclean, and unhappy. For "wickedness never was happiness" as it states in Alma 41:10. These sins are sometimes large and sometimes small. When we want to get rid of sin, we repent. This process can seem very painful and drawn out, but through Christ's power and mercy we can be forgiven of our sins. He will make our joy as exceeding as was our pain.

Come unto Christ, and He will help you be clean and free from sin once again. He will heal all the wrongs that were done by sin and make you whole.

The Lord has said:

D&C 58: 42 Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven,

and I, the Lord, remember them no more.

43 By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold,

he will confess them and forsake them.

 

We confess to God our sins and we ask for his help to change ourselves. This change can be difficult when WE try to do everything. Christ is the one who can change us to make us not even want to sin.

Ezekiel 36: 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

 We can have that clean fresh start by turning to God and asking for the power of Christ's atonement to heal us and change us. Christ can be the miraculous power that gets rid of all your weeds in your life. Now do you like weeding? I sure do.

I testify that we can repent and be forgiven of all the sins we have committed. We Can and Will be changed by Christ's infinite love and mercy and He will forgive you.
Here is a song that my mom wrote about forgiveness. It is very beautiful and I recommend you listen to it. Click on the play button on the bottom of your screen after getting to the site.
http://www.reverbnation.com/michelebaer#!/artist/artist_songs/797382

Have 1 Minute?

I would like you to ponder for just 1 minute on who the Savior Jesus Christ is to you. What do you cherish that he has accomplished? How can you learn from His example?

1 minute video:
http://easter.imamormon.org/

I know that Jesus Christ Lives. He has given His life for us so that we can overcome sin and death through the atonement. I rejoice in his teachings and strive to follow His example. I know great joy comes as we turn to Christ and follow Him and learn of Him.

If you have any questions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and our beliefs
my companion and I can teach you about what we believe:
My profile on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/ElderBaer

Starving? Feast on Scripture.

Directions: Open daily. Add personal prayer.
Feast on the word.

"You don't have to read the scriptures...

  except on the days you eat"

This statement is very important. When we read the scriptures we are fed by the things we study. We gain strength to more easily overcome the natural man. Since we are spirits that are learning to control our bodies there are two sides to us. Our Spirit desires to be fed by the word of God and the uplifting things in life for the welfare of our soul. The spirit and the body are the soul of man. Our body is inclined to hunger for the carnal things of the world. One way to think of it is that our spirit is like a hand and our body is a glove. We control the body with our spirit as the hand controls the glove. The scriptures literally nourish our spirit to have greater power over the body. A children's song from our church goes "Scripture power keeps me safe from sin. Scripture power is the power to win. Scripture power! Every day I need the power that I get each time I read."
In the Book of Mormon in 2nd Nephi 32:3 it reads:
"Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." If we read the Scriptures, they will tell us all things what we should do.

The Book of Mormon and the Bible support eachother in their witness of Christ, they will guide us to God and give us power. We need to read the word of God every day. He has revealed His word to the prophets and the prophets have written it down in these sacred books called scriptures. If we heed Heavenly Father's words recorded, we will stay spiritually strong and safe. We will satisfy our hunger for righteousness and save our spirits from separation from God by sin. The Spirit will confirm the truths of the gospel to us. May we all feast on these precious gems, the Scriptures. I know these things are true and I say them in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Prayer - part 2

In Alma 34:17-27, Amulek teaches us that we can repent through prayer and that we can pray many times a day over our jobs, our family, and against the power of Satan. He also said that we must pour out our souls to God in prayer "in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness."

I want to share a personal experience that I had when I was home and was years away from being at this point in my life. For a while in my life, I was feeling pretty empty and doing many things that teenagers do when they feel empty or unloved. I tried to distract myself, with petty things like "Facebook" and funny "Youtube" videos. They only made it worse. I didn't know what it was that I needed, I just knew I was incomplete in some way.
     After some reflection I decided to pray. This was one of the few times in my life I prayed out loud. I poured my heart out to God, and asked him many things troubling me. One of the things I asked him was if He really loved me. I can tell you that nothing I have ever felt can compare to the love and peace that I received that night. I felt a confirmation from the Holy Ghost telling me that Heavenly Father loved me personally. I felt so complete, so full of joy.

I encourage you to pray to your Father and don't act like you're talking to the air. He is literally the father of your spirit, you can talk with him like a child to his earthly father. Tell him what troubles you and ask him things you need to know for yourself. I testify to you that the Father is there and He is listening. Galatians 5 tells us some ways we can feel the spirit.

 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Again I invite you to search your hearts and come unto Him who is your Father. If you are having problems like all the rest of us on this earth, come unto His loving arms and ask for the help that he is waiting to give you. Plead for guidance and protection. He will hear your prayer and answer in His own time, you must trust Him. I testify these things are true in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Prayer - part 1

Have you ever felt alone and neglected? Have you ever felt like something was missing in your life? Prayer can bring you closer to our Heavenly Father. You are never alone. Jesus Christ teaches us how we should pray to our Father in Heaven in Matthew 6 verses 5-8.

 5 ¶And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

So Jesus is saying we need to pray to God privately, we need to keep it sacred. He also says that we don't need to be eloquent to pray or be wordy, it should be simple and heartfelt. God already knows the thoughts of your heart, so just simply talk to him. When you pause and ponder you will find things that you need to express, what it is that you really want to say to Him.

 In 2 Nephi 32:8-9 we read that we must pray always. It also teaches that whenever we feel like we shouldn't pray, thats when Satan or the devil is trying to drag us down. That is when we need to pray most. In Doctrine and Covenants 88:63 it says

63 Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

God wants us to pray to Him, and will draw nearer to you as you seek Him through humble prayer. I testify that these things are true and they will bless us as we follow them.

Here is a short clip about prayer I'd like to share.

Next week comes Prayer - part 2

Wise Men Still Seek Him

I wanted to share with you a wonderful video of how we can give back to Christ for all he has given us. This video talks of modern day wise men who saw an opportunity to serve, to love others who were in need of the pure love of Christ, which is charity.
In Moroni chapter 7 in the Book of Mormon it says "Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."
It also says that "charity never faileth".
you can read it here on the link below. In Moroni chapter 7: verses 45-48
http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/7?lang=eng


I pray with all my heart that we can find those who are in need and may feel alone, unloved or neglected so that we may lift up their weary spirits. This is the way we serve God, by serving others. You will feel the love of those you serve and of your Heavenly Father also as you reach out to relay the love that Christ has given you to others. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Putting on the Armor

This blog is about a realization I had of the parallels of "Sleeping Beauty" and the gospel.

In the movie "Sleeping Beauty" there is a scene in which the three good fairies come and free Prince Phillip out of the dungeon of the evil Maleficent. They give him some tools after he gets out. The first tool he gets from them is a Sword of Truth, and then he receives the Shield of Virtue.

In this picture Phillip uses the

sword of truth to kill Maleficent.



If you watched the movie you remember that as Prince Phillip is escaping the castle, Maleficent spots him and they get into a final battle. She puts a curse around Stefan's castle with a huge thicket of thorns. Prince Phillip cuts all the thorns out of the way with his sword. Eventually Maleficent turns into a humongous dragon and tries to kill him herself. He blocks her flames with his shield many times and gets backed up to a wall of stone where a fairy tells him to climb up the wall. Its really awesome because he is totally untouched when she breathes her flames at him. He throws the sword at her and she dies.

       As I was thinking about this story and applying it to life I saw some interesting parallels.

Phillip is a prince, he got ambushed and was taken prisoner by Maleficent the evil witch. He was rescued by the three good fairies who give him these tools (the sword and the shield), that are more powerful than Maleficent's attacks.

       Today we have been given armor and weapons to fight the battle against the devil or Satan.

The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 6:

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

14 Stand therefore, having your 1loins girt about with truth, and having on the 2breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet 3shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the 4shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the 5helmet of salvation, and the 6sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Take the armor of God and fight the good fight with all your might. With His help you can conquer all. He will deliver you out of every temptation and danger. The only power Satan has over you is the power you give him. Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Ephesians 6:10.

You are a child of God, a prince or princess of the most high King! In His strength you can do all things! As Lehi has said in the Book of Mormon "Awake! and arise from the dust.... Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust." As you awake from your slumber may you put on the Armor of God and go forth fighting against every buffeting of Satan that comes your way. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Know by Heart, Play by Ear.

In the world of music, the phrases "know by heart" and "play by ear" are pretty peculiar. I would like to offer you some insight on these phrases, being a singer and a piano player myself.

To Know by Heart is to know something perfectly or to have memorized something perfectly.

To say "I know it by heart" usually means it's been way more than memorized, it's been internalized. "This song is personal to me," the performer is saying, "I have no problem recalling it. I know it." A performer has probably toiled countless hours practicing and perfecting this song to play and express it the best he can.

We can compare this to getting a testimony of The Book of Mormon. When we read the Book of Mormon with an open heart we can gain knowlege that is ingrained in us.

2 Nephi 33:1 "And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men."

The Holy Ghost carries the truth of what we read to our heart. The prophets in the Book of Mormon wrote such things when they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, just as prophets of old in the Bible. So the Holy Ghost verifies the words they speak to be true. Notice that the Holy Ghost does not carry it into our heart but unto our heart. This takes us to the next phrase.

To Play by Ear is to try to learn a song by listening to the song itself and not having any sheet music to use.

You really have to listen closely to a song and to its very intricate details in order to get the exact same sound. The only way you can get a song to the express uniqueness by which it was written is to find the right combinations of chords and melody. As we listen very closely to the Holy Ghost we can know if the Book of Mormon is true or not. All we need to do is listen and turn down the noise of life so we can actually hear the Holy Ghost testify to our hearts of truth.

1st Kings 19:  The Lord speaks to Elijah in a still, small voice.
12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."

Moroni 10:3-5
3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

I encourage you to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder the message it contains. If you read it enough and are prayerful in understanding the teachings, you will come to know for yourself that they testify of Jesus Christ. If you listen to the feelings in your heart and the impressions on your mind and perhaps  "read by ear", then you can "know by heart" because the Holy Ghost testified to you the truth.
The Book of Mormon is the Keystone of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true restored church of Jesus Christ with all my heart and soul. If you want to know for yourself, I exhort you to read The Book of Mormon and ask God, with Faith in Christ if it is true believing that God will give you an answer. Be honest in your heart and believing, I believe you will get an answer. God loves all his children and wants to show them the truth of all things if they just ask.

Life, Death, and Sunsets

I really love sunsets, so I thought I'd write about them on my blog. I'm from Arizona, and we get a ton of really beautiful sunsets in our valley. I can't remember a time when I didn't love and admire amazing sunsets. I have probably taken over 1,000 pictures of sunsets. The reason for that is because a sunset is always changing. The clouds are moving, the sun is setting, so it is a process. I take so many pictures of just one sunset to see if I can get the best shot, the most beautiful picture of one. From what I've seen, it takes only about 30 seconds or about a minute for you to get a different looking sunset. It's slightly different but it could make a big difference. Time is intensified when trying to capture the grandeur of a setting sun. I run to my camera whenever I see what could be a great picture.



“When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon,

my soul expands in worship of the Creator”

 Mahatma Gandhi

Sunsets really give you a simple joy of the beauty of the earth. A sunset is the most magnificent display of clouds and light and colors I can imagine. It seems to be a small glimpse of what it will look like when Jesus comes again. Sunsets could also be compared to the end of life, as sunrises to the beginning of new life.

"Doors of Death" Russell M. Nelson, April 1992 General Conference Address
"Life does not begin with birth, nor does it end with death. Prior to our birth, we dwelled as spirit children with our Father in Heaven. There we eagerly anticipated the possibility of coming to earth and obtaining a physical body. Knowingly we wanted the risks of mortality, which would allow the exercise of agency and accountability. “This life [was to become] a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God.” (Alma 12:24.) But we regarded the returning home as the best part of that long-awaited trip, just as we do now. Before embarking on any journey, we like to have some assurance of a round-trip ticket. Returning from earth to life in our heavenly home requires passage through—and not around—the doors of death. We were born to die, and we die to live. (See 2 Cor. 6:9.) As seedlings of God, we barely blossom on earth; we fully flower in heaven."

“How strange this fear of death is! We are never frightened at a sunset.”

George MacDonald

There's nothing to fear of something as death. If we have an eternal perspective on life we would have a hope from the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I feel like a beautiful sunset could be a reminder to us of God's plan for us. It is inspiring to me, and also gives me a sense of how fast life goes. One minute the sunset will be there and the next it's gone, you have to cherish it while you have it.
Life can be the same way. If we don't take advantage of the opportunities right Here in front of us, life might pass us up and move right on. If you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it. Doesn't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till its gone? Don't let life be that way, cherish what you have. Make a change you need to, and take the courage to be who you need to be TODAY. Pray to Heavenly Father for the strength to be your best self. Don't let yourself be held captive by the things of the past. Don't forget the reason for our life on Earth is to prepare to meet God.

“The Lord has turned all our sunsets into sunrise.”

Clement of Alexandria

“There is nothing more musical than a sunset.

 He who feels what he sees will find no more beautiful example of development

 in all that book which, alas, musicians read but too little-the book of Nature.”

Claude Debussy (French composer)

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