Uphill, Downhill

Okay, let's try this again.

The reason I was so frustrated with this quote the other day was because I couldn't find the talk that it came from. That was partly because it didn't come from a talk. It came from President Eyring's book, "Seek Higher Ground." Also, according to deseretnews.com, President Eyring was quoting his mother's advice when he shared that, so the quote should actually be attributed to her.

But that's enough of a rant for this morning. Now I want to blog about why I wanted to blog about this quote in the first place.

Doing the right thing is usually difficult, and many apostles have related our spiritual progression to climbing a mountain or a hill. It's long and it's difficult, but the view is amazing, and there's safety in seeking the higher ground.

Alternatively, we could steer our lives in the other direction. If there's a hill and we're climbing it, we could theoretically climb back down. If we do, the going will be easier, ("It's all downhill from here"), but if we follow that path, we'll quickly find that our lives are "going downhill," and that's not a trajectory we want our lives to have. At least, it's not a trajectory I want my life to have.

I want to make progress. I want to do good and become a better person, even if the path of eternal progression is uphill and, at times, rather steep. It's a hard road to follow, but I need the blessings that come from striving to be righteous. Sure, it'd be easier to just not care about anything and let my life go downhill, but that's not going to get me anywhere I want to go. I'm going to the Celestial Kingdom, and the direction I need to go to get there is up.