Between This and Our Journey's End

At the beginning of John Bunyan’s famous Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian set out on his symbolic journey and a man named Pliable joined him.  Christian told Pliable that they were traveling to find “an endless kingdom to be inhabited and everlasting life to be given us, in order that we may live in that kingdom forever.”  After much description of the glories that awaited them from God, Pliable said, “Just hearing all this is enough to overwhelm me” and he is excited to hurry on their journey to reach their destination.  Shortly thereafter, though, “they drew near to a very muddy bog in the midst of the plain, but they didn’t see it. In quick order, they both fell into the mire. The name of the marshy slough was Despond. Here, they wallowed for a time until they were totally covered with the slime and mud.”  Pliable quickly became discouraged, saying, “Is this the happiness you told me about?  If we are stuck in the likes of this dirty goo right at the start, what can we expect between this and our journey’s end?” Pliable then found his way out of the mud and left Christian to return to his home (Kindle locations 191-197). 

                This story reminds us that the journey for the Christian in this life was never meant to be without opposition or difficulties or roadblocks.  And the fact that we encounter struggle does not change what’s at the journey’s end for those who persevere.  In the Parable of the Sower, some of the seed fell among stony places and “when the sun came up, they were scorched; because they had no root” and they “withered away.”  Jesus explained that “he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended” (Matt. 13:5-6, 20-21).  This seems to be just the kind of person that Bunyan was trying to describe in his character Pliable, and surely we all have a tendency to think this way.  The gospel offers innumerable blessings to the faithful.  And so in moments of difficulty we are tempted to question the whole validity of the journey and forget with how much joy we once looked on to the path God laid out for us.  We must be careful not to be deceived into thinking that because His yoke is “easy” our way will be filled with ease; rather we must trust that though we do find great challenges, they will be “but a small moment” and we must simply seek to “endure it well” (D&C 121:7-8).  Our attitude should be like that of the Nephites who fought against the Lamanites who sought to destroy their lives and liberties: they “were fixed with a determination to conquer” (Alma 58:12).  The fact that the war was extremely difficult and filled with dangers didn’t change the fact that it was the right course of action to defend their families.  We can expect to have that same level of challenges in our spiritual battles.  The gospel does of course promise great blessings to us here in this life and in the next, but that should not cause us to shortsightedly equate blessings with the absence of trials.  The here and now blessings of the gospel are surely great—with the Gift of the Holy Ghost being chief among them—but these blessings are often accompanied by muddy bogs we must make our way through.  We know that we can expect great trials “between this and our journey’s end,” but if we trust in the Lord He will help us “triumph over all [our] foes.”