I heard this story the other day told by a woman who was reflecting back on an experience she had as a child. At this time in her life she was about 7 or 8 years old and her grandfather was her best friend. They spent lots of time together doing a variety of things but her favorite thing to do with her grandfather was to go fishing with him. They did this often as their family had some land that had a river running through it. One day her grandfather had gotten up early and went fishing and the little girl set out after breakfast to go find him. As she approached the river she saw that he was sitting on the opposite side of the bank over a deep hole in the river and he was really catching some fish.

Her grandfather saw her standing there and motioned for her to come across the river to join him. The girl looked down the edges of the bank and began to wonder how her grandfather got to the other side. She wanted to be with him but she did not see a way to cross the river. She walked down the bank a ways in each direction but the river only got wider and wider and there was no way for her to cross. She came back to the river across from where her grandfather was sitting and was about to give up and go back to the house and play with her sisters when her grandfather called out to her. “Come across and join me.” He showed her a whole basket of fish he had caught and this mad the little girl really want to be on the other side of the river with him.

He told her, “Follow the rocks across the river”. She looked around but did not see any rocks. As he was reeling in another fish she began to get discouraged and started heading back towards the house. He urged her to wait and she saw him walking back across the river to help her. What she did not see is that the rocks were just below the edge of the surface of the water. She did not notice the path until her grandfather pointed it out to her. Her grandfather told her to follow him back across so that they could enjoy the day fishing. The little girl stepped out onto the first rock and it was very slippery and she almost fell in the river. She asked her grandfather if he could carry her across. He said to her, “Darling, you are almost 8 years old and I am an old man, there is no way I can carry you across.” He told her to follow him and she would get there safely. As they worked their way across, they did make it there safely and they caught many fish and enjoyed their time together.

This story to me represents who we are in our lives today. We are all here on this earth and the river is our path through life. The other side of the river is our goal, which is to return to live with our Father in Heaven. Sometimes we may not always see the path we need to take but if we follow the Savior Jesus Christ, we can safely make it to the other side. We have to do this for ourselves, just like the little girl in the story. Christ is our exemplar but he cannot physically carry us through our lives. He can be there to lift us up and get us through tough times but we must walk the path alone. We must seek diligently to find our path and fight with all our might to stay upon it. If we can accomplish this, the rewards will be beyond measure.