Rocky Road

When two people mutually experience difficulties in dating each other, what they have is often described as a “rocky relationship.”

Not uncommonly, when someone is having a rough time in life, is the “rough time” referred to as a “rocky road.”

Speaking of “rocky road,” that phrase has always toted a negative connotation in my mind, because I’m allergic to that kind of ice cream. Bummer, right?

Rocks. Oftentimes they are bulky, heavy stumbling blocks that can inflict big-time pain if you trip on them or if they get thrown at you. But just a few months ago, rocks presented themselves to me in a totally different light.

I was climbing back down from the highest peak of my neighborhood’s mountain range. Mount Nebo is what it was. If the ocean was right next door, the tippy-top would tower 12,000 feet above it.

As a poor attempt to paint you a word picture, I will tell you that it was indeed beautiful, with oodles of trees everywhere. Evergreens. Aspens...

"You can tell it's an aspen......"

There were birds...

Bugs...

And a doe-a-deer-a-female-deer!

It was dusty in parts, flowery in parts, and really steep in a lot of parts. There also were no visible water sources, and so you had to be super prepped with plenty of packed water of your own. I had my trusty CamelBak bladder (hmm… that sounds pretty attractive, eh?).

About halfway into the hike, one begins to laboriously transport his or her already-tired little body up a lengthy slope that I swear is practically perfectly perpendicular to the relatively level grade that was just barely walked upon. Although you’ve heretofore been ascending since step 1 of your Nebo journey, this is where the true ascension begins…

HERE is where “quadriceps + respiratory system = kindred spirits joined together in bravely taking on cruel, cruel gravity + treacherous geometric angles in nature.”

HERE is where you’re beginning to notice that there are significantly fewer trees the farther and farther you go, and you’re closing in on the timberline where foliage ends and the rocks commence.

Yes, I’m back to the rocks again. I’m about to really start inching towards the actual point of my entire tale – yay!

GETTING TO THE POINT

In the process of conquering Nebo, just before one can almost taste the peak (ew, but don’t actually ever do that), one undertakes a serious scaling session up some seriously jagged rocks. (Like, srsly.) The strategizing surrounding one’s rock climbing endeavors sometimes can feel taxing. But in reality, it’s this rocky path that is the best and easiest way to reach the glorious end goal.

And then, there you are. With your friends, and with a view that is très magnifique. What a wonderful time period, here at the summit! You sit down together on the hard ground, chat together, laugh together, take fun photos, and scarf down your bananas and club crackers, which, at that moment, you swear are the absolute most delectable things that have ever graced your buds.

And then it’s time to start thinking about going home. And the only way home is.........back down the rocks.

It’s a whole new ballgame, wholly different from how it felt to scamper UPwards. DOWNwards was downright interesting. And no, it’s not like I’d never hiked before. I’ve been known to trek among the flora, fauna, and geology in my day! But it was this particular Nebolistic descent in my life that provided me with a thought-provoking and heart-penetrating spiritual experience that I’m sure I’ll never forget – one that causes me to believe that I know precisely why God created rocks in the first place.

THE POINT

It was the latter half of the hike, and my friends and I had approximately two miles left. We were doused in dirt. Our feet hurt. We had gotten over our passionate love for nibbling upon crackers, and were in the opening stages of realizing that our bellies were ready for something real.

We were meandering our way down a doozy of a hill. Impacted rocks spotted the trail everywhere – rocks that, if I remember correctly, were valued to be more towards the “nuisance” side of the pH Scale of Annoyance than the “oh pleeeez do come in and make yourself at home” side of it.

But now that we were descending the slopes of the Nebo, the rocks that were once on the brink of problematication were now somehow suddenly transformed into things of beautiful helpfulness. They were basically the core reason none of us slipped and slid anytime during this portion of the expedition. For a while I think I had been subconsciously thinking, Wow, I’m sure glad these rocks are here for our safe footing purposes! But then it dawned on me just how rockin’ly useful they now were, and it immediately made me think of a classically terrific verse in the Book of Mormon, which I consider to be a true book of holy scripture:

“And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” (Helaman 5:12)

It was because of the rocks on my path that I wasn’t “dragged down” by whatever elements in the universe are responsible for causing people to topple while hiking. I’m so glad I was eventually able to view the rocks this way; it took several miles of Nebo road, but that’s very much alright.

ROCK AND REDEEMER

What I learned that day from the rocks reminded me a lot of my Savior, King, Brother, and Friend, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus is the “rock” and the “Redeemer” referred to in the literary excerpt I just shared. He is who I know I count on whenever I need help getting safe footing while on the mountains of my mortality – and that’s pretty much all the time! He is every beautifully helpful rock wedged into the ground, for the sole purpose of aiding His Father’s children in their challenging journey back home to heaven – meaning, He is not only there for me, but for everyone who will choose to use the amazing gift that He Himself is. He is love. I’m so thankful for Him, as well as for Him who is both His Father, my Father, and your Father: God, our Heavenly Father.