Finding our way in the fog

This past week it has been very foggy in the mornings here in Hobbs New Mexico. In fact, Thursday was so foggy that you could barely see the road in front of the car.

There is a section of the highway leaving south out of town that has just been resurfaced – in fact, there just finishing it now. The lines are not yet on the road – and just the marker flags have been placed where the lane lines will go. These provide some guidance, but are not as good as nice bright lines can be. This section of road is a 4 lane divided highway (2 lanes each way) so it provides more security than a two lane road would give.

Still, before daybreak, with the thick fog, there was quite a long stretch (about 10 miles) for which you could not simultaneously see both edges of the road. In fact, there was a time when all I could see was a black road surface and sometimes one of the lane flags – never more than one at a time. The flags were only visible when you came to within 1/2 the distance between them. So after passing a flag, several seconds would pass before the next would come into view. So – at times, no flags visible, and no side of the road to measure by… And there was little traffic to assist in the journey.

I traveled slowly and carefully, keeping the flags to my left as I passed. But keeping the flags to the left works only as I traveled straight down the road – but with no other markers to guide me, and with the occasional missing flag – I often found myself not to the right of the flags, but to the left. A quick course correction righted the situation, but then I might find myself near the right edge of the road.

At less than 20 miles per hour for over 10 miles, this continued for quite some time! However, using the markers that were available, I arrived safely at my journey. Not everyone that traveled on Thursday arrived without incident. And several passed me at a speed more than twice mine!

In our journey through life, we need to be using the markers that have been given us to insure we stay on the road. In this day and age, the road is dark and the way is foggy. The scriptures and the words of the prophets are available to us to help us stay on the straight and narrow road. By the writings of the Book of Mormon, the flags in the road are like the iron rod – straight and true (actually better, since we never have to let go!). If we use the Iron Rod to guide our life, we will safely arrive at the end of our Eternal Journey.

May we all meet safely there.