A road less traveled...

It has been said that the less traveled, long, and sometimes lonely roads make all the difference in life... 

I've found that is true...

I took a drive the other day and found myself on a deserted highway. 

 There was a time when this road was filled with cars traveling to far flung destinations. Journeys with a thousand stories attached to them. Then the winds of change and the ever turning wheels of progress decided that this pathway had fulfilled it's purpose. No longer would it carry the load of passing travelers. 

Now it sees only the few who are willing to venture off the beaten path, along the backroads and byways.

  

 I did not know where this road led. I simply followed it's worn path... 

Still, I knew no matter how filled with ruts and rocks it was, like all roads eventually it would lead me to it's destination. As I drove the dusty trail I thought how, at times, life is like this forgotten path. 

Sometimes we are taken down roads that seem to be filled with potholes and pitfalls. There are detours placed in our path and we wonder if we will ever find our way back. 

 Sometimes along our way we lose friends and loved ones and wish that we did not all have to travel this long road... And yet we do... 

Still...if we're lucky - along with the challenges and losses we may face along the way - we also gain new friends and loved ones - not to replace the old, for that is impossible - but to add more richness and depth to our journey. With our experiences we may also find courage and talents we never knew we had. Things we might never have known if it hadn't been for the pathway we were on. 

So,

I am grateful I took this less traveled road... 

grateful for the lessons it brought to mind...

grateful, in a way, for the twists and turns of my own life's journey...

As I was writing this post I found this song that captured much of what I felt as I drove along the long forgotten road... 

Long Road

   -Pearl Jam

And I wished for so long...

I cannot stay

All the precious moments...

Cannot stay

It's not like wings have fallen...

I cannot say

Without you something is missing...

I cannot say

Holding hands of daughters and sons

In their phase they're falling down

Down, down, down

I have wished for so long...

How I wish for you again

We all walk the long road

I cannot stay

There's no need to say goodbye

Oh, the friends and family...

All the memories going round

Round, round round...

I have wished for so long...

How I wished for you today

And the wind keeps rollin'

And the sky keeps turning grey

And the sun is setting

The sun will rise another day

I have wished for so long...

How I wish for you today

I have wished for so long...

How I wish for you today

Will I walk the long road?

We all walk the long road

The Test...

For after much tribulation...cometh the blessing.
- Doctrine and Covenants 103:12

It seems that no one is immune to the trials that are part of mortality. This has been a lesson that has been reinforced repeatedly over the past several months as I have watched those around me deal with sorrow, pain, illness, and loss of many kinds, and as I have dealt with those as well.

I was reminded again of the fragility of this temporal existence this weekend when I learned that a friend suffered the sudden loss of her sweetheart. Recently, another friend, in fact, an entire community lost a beloved member. Friends and family members have been ill. For others employment has been elusive. Still others deal with hearts that have been broken and struggle to hold on. The list could go on... In so many of these instances healing seems very far away.  I am left wondering at times where in all of these moments are the succor and mercy that are promised for those who seek it?

Then I remember that I am not alone in these thoughts or questions. Even the Savior who was perfect, who descended below all things, felt momentarily forsaken at the end of his mortal life as he cried, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He who lived and died for me was tested above anything you or I will ever be called to endure. And in the end he knew he had not been forsaken or forgotten and because he endured to the end and passed through it all there is hope.

Through the words of Jeffrey R. Holland, "Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations...is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said: “I will not leave you comfortless: [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you]. (None Were With Him, General Conference - April 2009)

Because He passed the test, we can also. There is hope for all of us that after - indeed even during - the trial, we will be blessed. There is balm in Gilead. He will mourn with those who mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort. He will not leave us alone. Healing will come whether on this side of the veil or the next. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." (Psalm 30:5)

I may not always understand why things happen the way they do. But there is comfort in knowing there is One who does.

The Test
Janice Kapp Perry

Tell me friend, why are you blind?

Why doesn't he who worked the miracles 

send light into your eyes

Tell me friend if you understand.

Why doesn't he with power to raise the dead

 Just make you whole again?

It would be so easy for him.

I watch you and in sorrow question why.

Then you my friend in perfect faith reply - 

Didn't he say he sent us to be tested?

Didn't he say the way would not be sure?

But didn't he say that we could live with him

Forever more, well and whole,

If we but patiently endure?

After the trial we will be blessed

But this life is the test.

Tell me friend, I see your pain.

Why when you pray in faith for healing 

Does the crippling thorn remain?

Help me see if you understand.

Why doesn't he who healed the lame man 

Come with healing in his wings?

It would be so easy for him. 

I watch you and in sorrow question why.

Then you my friend in perfect faith reply -

Didn't he say he sent us to be tested?

Didn't he say the way would not be sure?

But didn't he say that we could live with him 

Forever more, well and whole,

If we but patiently endure?

After the trial

We will be blessed.

But this life is the test.

Tell me love why must you die?

Why must your loved ones stand with empty arms

 And ask the question why?

Help me know so I can go on.

How when your love in faith sustain me,

Can the precious gift be gone?

From the depths of sorrow I cry.

Though pangs of grief within my soul arise,

The whisperings of the Spirit still my cries -

Didn't he say he sent us to be tested?

Didn't he say the way would not be sure?

But didn't he say we could live with him 

Forever more, well and whole,

If we but patiently endure?

After the trial we will be blessed.

But this life is the test.

Where Are You Christmas?......

Christmas this year has seemed to be very far away.

It isn't that evidence is lacking declaring this to be the season....

Homes are decorated.

Tress are lit, their branches heavy with baubles and bangles.

Hearths are adorned with mementoes of years past.

Christmas music fills the air with lilting melodies.

No... it isn't that I can not see or hear Christmas all around me...

It is that I can not feel it... at least, not yet...

There are reasons for this I am sure...

Some I can attempt to change, others I wish with all my heart I had the power to change but I do not.

That doesn't mean that I will stop in my search this year or that I will not find Christmas...eventually... for wherever there is kindness and compassion there sparks a little of the Spirit of Christmas...

So, bear with me on my journey this year... realize that I know that this too - along with other moments will pass.

Regardless of where or what Christmas is for me this year... know that I wish you the best of everything. That I hope the Christmas spirit finds you wherever you may be and in whatever circumstance you may have.

May the true spirit of the season shine through and on all of us...

Where are you Christmas 

Why can't I find you 

Why have you gone away 

Where is the laughter 

You used to bring me 

Why can't I hear music play 

My world is changing

I'm rearranging

Does that mean Christmas changes too

Where are you Christmas

Do you remember

The one you used to know

I'm not the same one

See what the time's done

Is that why you have let me go

Christmas is here

Everywhere, oh

Christmas is here

If you care, oh

If there is love in your heart and your mind

You will feel like Christmas all the time

I feel you Christmas

I know I've found you

You never fade away

The joy of Christmas

Stays here inside us

Fills each and every heart with love

Where are you Christmas

Fill your heart with love