Monday Meditation - 1 Nephi 8 and the Parable of the Down Escalator

All the females in our house are sick, including me, so today's post is from an old journal entry about Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life.  At the time, I was studying using Preach My Gospel.  I recorded some questions and my thoughts.  Some answers are "easy" but at the same time, I didn't catch the first years of reading this scripture.  And each time I ponder it, my testimony is stronger and reminded of how I need to prioritize.

#1 - What did Lehi desire after eating the fruit?
Lehi wanted his family to partake also.  He looked for them and beckoned to them.  But he did NOT chase after them or drag them to the iron rod.

#2 - What do we need to do to be able to partake?
You must stay on the strait and narrow path - clinging to the iron rod.  So keep the commandments and feast upon the scriptures.  Each step on this path comes by our making and keeping our commitments and covenants and brings us closer to Heavenly Father.  Being closer to Him gives us strength which makes it easier and possible to take the next step.  That next step is never an easy step.  Each step takes work.  At the beginning of our journey, that next step would probably have not been even possible, but it IS possible now because of our current position, strength, understanding and abilities that have come from the previous steps.

#3 - What is your duty in helping others find and partake of the fruits of the Gospel?
First, we need to be working on keeping ourselves on the strait and narrow path and partaking of the fruit.  Then we need to beckon to our family as Lehi did.  Offering, but not forcing or coercing.  Encourage those already on the path to keep moving forward and ignore those who ridicule or attempt to distract us from the path.

So that's it from my journal entry.  But I am being reminded of thoughts I have had many years ago which I have titled "The Parable of the Down Escalator".

As kids, it was always fun to try to go up the down escalator.  Picture yourself trying to go up those steps as they continue to make their way down.  This is how I picture the Gospel.  Our goal is to get to the top of the escalator but we must use the down escalator (I'm not even sure there is an up escalator).  To get closer to the top, we have to work really hard to get our momentum going faster than the stairs are going down.  If we slow down, often times our momentum will match the speed of the stairs and we become stagnant - not moving forward.  Then there are those times when we like ourselves tired and stop working.  If we pause for only a moment, we lose our position, but can make up the loss easily.  But if we pause for anything longer than one moment, we quickly lose position and can slide to the bottom of the escalator.  This is why it's essential that we have DAILY scripture study time, DAILY prayer, weekly FHE, attend our church meetings and regularly attend the Temple (the Fab 5 for my fellow 3rd Ward friends).  These keep us moving forward so that we can get to the top!