Walking Out

The fifth principle in getting through adversity is to walk—to use the energy and means we have been given to do the small things leading out of the swamp of adversity.

 “God's promises were never meant to ferry our laziness,” Henry ward Beecher reminds us. “Like a boat, they are to be rowed by our oars; but many men, entering, forget the oar, and drift down more helpless in the boat than if they had staid on shore.

“There is not an experience in life by whose side God has not fixed a promise. There is not a trouble so deep and swift-running, that we may not cross safely over, if we have courage to steer and strength to pull.”

Now ofttimes in adversity it seems much better to run through it (after all you get through it faster).  Or even, perhaps, flag down a jet and ride out in style.  But always we have been cautioned not to run “faster then we have strength” (Mosiah 4:27; D&C 10:4)—getting through adversity is a matter of endurance and diligence rather then speed.

Whether rowing or walking it is the step by step, stroke by stroke method that gets us through.   

 “Details…” after all, are those things which “make or mar perfection,” as James. E. Talmage says.

Heartwood gives us a firm foundation…vision gives us a destination…faith moves us forward toward the vision…prayer grants us the peace and power of God—and then the walking begins.

“Discipleship is a journey,” Dieter F. Uchtdorf reminds us. “We need the refining lessons of the journey to craft our character and purify our hearts. By patiently walking in the path of discipleship, we demonstrate to ourselves the measure of our faith and our willingness to accept God’s will rather than ours….

“Because [we] unnecessarily complicate [our] lives, [we] often feel increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in [our] lives…

“It is good advice to slow down a little, steady the course, and focus on the essentials when experiencing adverse conditions… “ (The Way of the Disciple; Of Things That Matter Most)

We cannot outrace adversity.  We can, with God’s help, outlast it.  Eventually our hero’s road through the swamp gave way to a dry dusty road surrounded by grassy fields—and cows replaced alligators as the most ferocious species of wildlife.