Stay in the Boat - Even in the Calm

It's probably about time that I got back to blogging from General Conference talks. In his Sunday Afternoon session talk, Stay in the Boat and Hold On!, Elder M. Russell Ballard shared a story of a rafting trip in which the first rule that was given by the rafting instructor was "Stay in the boat." This seemed a little bit odd to me. It seems to me that such a rule, while important, would hardly be necessary. Who in their right minds would willingly get out of a raft while rafting down rapids?

But then later in the talk, Elder Ballard quoted Brigham Young as having said:

It is in calm weather, when the old ship of Zion is sailing with a gentle breeze, [and] when all is quiet on deck, that some of the brethren want to go out in the whaling boats to have … a swim, and some get drowned, others drifted away, and others again get back to the ship. Let us stick to the old ship and she will carry us [safely] into the harbor; you need not be concerned.

Not all stretches of river have rapids, and not all rafting trips involve rapids at all. Sometimes, when life is good, people start to think that they're doing okay, that they can loosen up a little, that they can get out of the raft and enjoy a dip in the river. But in life, rapids come up unexpectedly. You never know when the next trial in your life or next test of your faith will come, so it is imperative that you stay in the boat of the gospel and hold on to gospel principles, so you can be ready whenever rapids come up.

But President Young's talk had nothing to do with rapids. There doesn't have to be life-threatening problems ahead to make leaving the "old ship Zion" a fatal mistake. Some people about whom President Young spoke simply drifted away. The gospel of Jesus Christ provides protection, and people can't tread water on their own forever. Even if you are a strong swimmer, and even if the water is calm, there is danger in leaving the safety of the boat. If you overestimate your strength and swim out just a little bit too far, you might not make it back to the boat in time.

The only safe way to make sure you're in the boat when you need to be is to never leave the boat at all. On a rafting trip, when you know that there's some risk of death, that's easy. But in real life, when the life that's at stake is a spiritual one, the risk and the danger can be harder to see. Some commandments can sometimes seem pointless. Some sins can sometimes seem safe. Some prophetic counsel can sometimes seem foolish or out of touch with the modern world, but the guidance of the living prophets could not be any more modern or any more wise or important. We need to hold on to their counsel like our lives depend on it, even when life is calm. There is danger, even in the calm, and we never know when the next set of rapids will appear. The only way to be sure that we're safe is to stay in the safety of the boat.