Look Down the Road

In the most recent general conference Elder Alvin F. Meredith III told a story about his first attempts to drive with his father when he had a learner’s permit. He recounted, “[My father] drove a few miles to the outskirts of town to a long, straight, two-lane road that few people used—I should note, likely the only place he would have felt safe. He pulled over on the shoulder of the road, and we switched seats. He gave me some coaching and then told me, ‘Ease out onto the road and just drive until I tell you to stop.’ I followed his orders exactly. But after about 60 seconds, he said, ‘Son, pull the car over. You’re making me nauseous. You are swerving all over the road.’ He asked, ‘What are you looking at?’ With some exasperation, I said, ‘I’m looking at the road.’ Then he said this: ‘I’m watching your eyes, and you are looking only at what is right in front of the hood of the car. If you look only at what is directly in front of you, you will never drive straight.’ Then he emphasized, ‘Look down the road. That will help you drive straight.’” This story reminds me of my own first attempts to drive with my parents. I would consistently turn too far with each turn, giving the same kind of anxiety to my parent instructor as Elder Meredith’s father. At a high level perhaps my problem was similar to Elder Meredith’s: I was too focused on what was right in front of me. I didn’t look enough beyond each turn and my focus on it caused me to keep turning when I was supposed to straighten out. Elder Meredith explained the lesson he learned from his experience in these words: “I have since realized that that was a great life lesson as well. Focusing on the things that are most important—especially those things ‘down the road,’ those eternal things—is a key to maneuvering through this life.” We have to be able to look beyond what is immediately in front of us; we must see further than the present in order to make the best choices for our future.

               Elder Meredith gave us three invitations for how we can indeed better look down the road in life and see what is most important: focus on Christ, beware of distractions, and we can be rescued. In a world hyper-focused on instant gratification, these invitations are meant to help us to patiently look to the future and make choices today that will bless us most in the long run. To focus on Christ means that we will patiently wait for His blessings as we seek to keep His commandments now. Jacob suggested that the very essence of being His people is to wait for Him: “For the people of the Lord are they who wait for him; for they still wait for the coming of the Messiah” (2 Nephi 6:13). We seek Him now so that we are prepared for His future coming as the Lord said to the Saints in 1831: “And again, be patient in tribulation until I come; and, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, and they who have sought me early shall find rest to their souls” (Doctrine and Covenants 54:10). As we focus on Him we are led naturally to look down the road of our lives, working through tribulation with faith knowing that His promise is sure: “Be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours” (Doctrine and Covenants 78:18).   

               Often what prevents us from focusing on Christ in our lives are the distractions that bombard us for attention and time. Elder Meredith commented, “There are many things ‘in front of the hood’ that can distract us from focusing on Christ and eternal things that are ‘down the road.’ The devil is the great distractor. We learn from Lehi’s dream that voices from the great and spacious building seek to lure us to things that will take us off the course of preparing to return to live with God.” Our spiritual journey is perhaps not too unlike driving down the freeway in a busy metropolis with the countless billboards that line either side of the road. These signs, often with flashy lights and catchy phrases, take our attention away from the road where it is needed most. I find all these distractions can even give me a headache if I let myself continually read them as I go down the road. For the safest and most peaceful journey we must learn to block out these messages on either side of us and look down the road. In the same manner, spiritually we must be able to put first things first, not letting the endless pulls on our time take us away from replenishing our spirits through prayer, scripture study, the Sacrament, and the temple. I love how Elder Faust prophetically described in 1993 this challenge that we face today: “In your generation you will be barraged by multitudes of voices telling you how to live, how to gratify your passions, how to have it all. You will have up to five hundred television channels at your fingertips. There will be all sorts of software, interactive computer modems, databases, and bulletin boards; there will be desktop publishing, satellite receivers, and communications networks that will suffocate you with information.” Indeed we can easily be suffocated with information and distractions today if we don’t diligently focus our attention on the Savior and what matters most.

            As we seek to wait on the Lord and set aside the distractions, we can be sure that “we can be rescued” by the Savior in our times of need. As we look to the future we can count on this well-known promise of Elder Holland: “Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.” Elder Meredith reminded us that help from the Lord may not come until the symbolic fourth watch, and we must have the faith like those ancient apostles on the storm-tossed see to trust in His arrival: “Remember that the Savior came to the aid of the Apostles in the fourth watch of the night—after they had spent most of the night toiling in the storm. We may pray that if the help will not come immediately, it will at least come in the second watch or even the third watch of the proverbial night. When we must wait, rest assured that the Savior is always watching, ensuring that we will not have to endure more than we can bear. To those who are waiting in the fourth watch of the night, perhaps still in the midst of suffering, do not lose hope. Rescue always comes to the faithful, whether during mortality or in the eternities.” As we put our trust in Him, looking down the road past our immediate problems and setting aside the distractions of the world, we can be sure that the Savior will strengthen us now and come to our aid in His time.