Following Guidance

Tonight, I went for a bike ride. I rode through unfamiliar areas. It was late and dark. Most of the time, I had little idea where I was or how to get home. Yet, I never felt lost. I was never worried that I might not be going in the right direction or that I might not make it home tonight. That was because I wasn't riding alone. I had a guide who knew the area and knew where to turn. I knew that, as long as I stayed with my guide, I would be fine.

This has a fairly obvious parallel in mortality. We are often lost in the dark, and we don't always know where we're going or where to turn, unless we follow our guides. We can find guidance in the scriptures, at General Conference, and through prayer and personal revelation. As long as we follow our guides, we can know that we're going the right direction and that we're going to make it home.

Of course, that's easier said than done, and as I learned tonight, that may be easier under some circumstances than others. When my guide told me to turn a certain direction on a certain street, I didn't question it or complain at all. That's something that I can't always say for heavenly guidance. There have been times when I've accepted the Lord's guidance less readily than I accepted my guide's guidance tonight.

I should work on that. I should learn to trust the Lord more fully and to follow Him more readily. At some level, I know that the Lord's guidance is at least as trustworthy as the guidance I followed tonight, if not infinitely more so. If I can follow a friend's guidance without question or complaint, I should learn to follow the Lord's guidance that way as well.