Jesus is the Light on your Path

I came to a fork in the trail. Which way should I go?

I could hear a breeze flutter the thick canopy of birch leaves above me, and the gurgling of the river nearby. It was a beautiful August afternoon on the East Fork trail at Eklutna. My husband and son were ahead, but I couldn’t see or hear them. I paused. If I went the wrong way, I could run into a bear by myself, or find myself hiking in the wrong direction for hours alone. I shouted, but to no avail, thanks to the rushing of the river nearby. So, I did what I usually do. I said a prayer. About three minutes later my husband and son came from the right fork of the trail, looking for me. They suddenly realized I wasn’t showing up when they expected me, so they turned back. I knew it was an answer to my little prayer. Jesus was the light on my path.

***

Our family had a big decision to make. It was important, and I needed to get it right. So I did what I usually do. I opened up my scriptures for my daily devotional. I prayed and began to read. Immediately I knew what I needed to do, with bright clarity. And I did it. As the months went by, God guided me. “See?” He would say. “I’m helping.” “See? I’m right here.” “See? This is the right thing.” God mentored me. Jesus was the light on my path.

***

I carefully lift the sacred sacrament bread to my lips, and drink from the sacrament cup. I feel peace and light: renewal. In these moments I know I am clean, and sustained by Jesus, at least for another week. Jesus lights my weekly path.

Adam and Eve found themselves at a significant “fork in the trail.” They were given two seemingly contradictory commandments: “Multiply and replenish the earth” AND “Don’t eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” The first commandment—to create a family—wasn’t happening. The second commandment, to avoid the fruit of that tree, Adam and Eve kept diligently. But where were the children that they were commanded to create?

Something was preventing the children, and I believe Adam and Eve knew something needed to change. What options did they have to nudge a change? They had to make a decision, and they had to live with the consequences. This decision was completely up to them. It was their agency to choose. There was one choice they could try. That choice was brought to their awareness by Satan, apparently the only point of opposition in their Eden-based lives. So they made the choice and ate the forbidden fruit.

And things did change! Their immortal bodies became mortal, and their innocent minds became aware. Joy and sorrow, achievement and failure, and life and death became their new world. They were dismissed from the perfectly comfortable Garden of Eden, and they finally were able to create children.

And Adam and Eve experienced joy. How? Because Jesus was the light on their path. His infinite, merciful, Atoning Sacrifice covered them for their choice, giving “justice” its due— they broke the commandment, and Jesus suffered for it. They walked into mortality with the endgame being death, and Jesus reversed that, by guaranteeing resurrection and eternal life for all. He grants them (and us) peace. We receive joy through Him. He grants each of us the potential to return to the presence of God, our Heavenly Father. This potential is guaranteed by Jesus’s infinite power, mercy, and grace through His Great Atoning Sacrifice.

Jesus willingly and humbly offered Himself as a ransom for all of it: Adam and Eve’s move from the Garden of Eden into mortality; our mistakes and continuing need to repent; our sorrow; our need for comfort and solace; and our need for His divine help. He covered it all. No need is too deep or too great, because His power is infinite.

Jesus humbly and willingly gave this to us at great personal cost. He said, “…[this] suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink. Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:18-19). Because He suffered it all and finished His offering, He has the power to save us in every facet of our lives.

He forgives us. He mentors us. He blesses us. He comforts us. He purifies us. He brings us back into the presence of our holy and loving Father in Heaven. He makes us more than we are, and better than we could ever hope to be.

Jesus’s Great Atoning Sacrifice enabled him to light every path we will ever encounter. Because Jesus is with us, nothing can ultimately prevail against us.

Are you at a crossroads today? Look up! Kneel down! Have faith, because Jesus is right there, wherever you are, willing and fully able to help you. He is the light on your path, powerfully and lovingly ready to help.

Beth Wright is a long-time Mat Su gal, mother, grandmother, and happily married wife. She loves the good people in this valley, and is enjoying the early Spring! She belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.