The Maze
Life is much like being born into a maze—a big, wonderful, terrible, exciting, frightening, enlightening, confusing, beautiful maze. Attitudes toward this maze vary greatly from person to person depending on their experiences here. Some feel to curse the maze not long after they enter it. Some are indifferent and would prefer pitching a tent to exploration. Others, appreciating the challenge, love the maze. But no matter what our opinion of life, we’re here, and it’s a journey with incredible potential.
Navigating the maze of life can be rewarding and challenging. A right turn will generally provide satisfaction, confidence, and gratitude, while a wrong turn could land you far from where you ever wanted to be. So how do we make our way through with confidence? As Latter-day Saints we’re lucky enough to know that our experience in the maze of life has a great purpose and that we don’t have to travel blindly. This doesn’t mean we’re all exceptionally skilled at navigating it yet, but at least we’ve been provided with the tools we need to successfully make our way from start to finish—and hopefully bring others with us.
The Goal
We’ve been taught that the ultimate goal is to get back to God and receive eternal life. But what does eternal life mean to us down here in the maze? Do we really comprehend what is being offered to us for a valiant, faithful journey? In our limited human understanding, probably not. But gaining an understanding of God’s objective—“to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39)—can help us navigate the maze with more confidence.
Eternal life is so much more than a ticket home. It’s an offer to be in the company of God and Jesus Christ forever; to always be enveloped in a love and peace that never subsides; to continue to learn, grow, and progress; to be free of fear, pain, and sorrow; to be healed; to become whole. Such a gift is difficult to comprehend while we’re here in the midst of our challenges, but the promise remains, and it’s worth our sincere efforts every day.
The Map
A map is invaluable in a maze, and we have one. The map for a successful journey is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is found in the scriptures, which are rarely more than a click away. Christ navigated the maze Himself and promised to provide us peace and comfort as we try to tread in His footsteps (see John 14:16–18, 26–27).
Precious Perspective
If only we could climb a little higher, scale a maze wall, find a tower, a lookout, anything to gain a better vantage point of the maze; then maybe we could see where we’re going. But it’s not to be. The maze was designed to build the faith of its travelers. It requires trust and a humble dependence on both the architect and the builder, God and Jesus Christ.
Only through Them can we begin to see what They see and gain the precious perspective and vantage point so vital to our success. And the insights we receive will almost always come line upon line. Learning to be patient is the refining process of the journey.
The Guide
God always has a perfect view of the maze. He can see where each turn will lead. But because having Him physically present with us would defeat the purpose of testing our faith, He has provided us with a guide, the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost also always has a perfect view of the maze.
In the maze, we’re subject to many external influences, both good and bad. Our very thoughts can be likened to a spiritual headset, through which we can receive direction. Through this headset, the Holy Ghost provides personal revelation. The clarity of the instructions we receive from Him can improve each time we make a good choice. Conversely, disobedience to His promptings can cause directions to become faint, garbled, or even cause them to stop altogether. So how do we recognize when we’re receiving personal revelation?
The Holy Ghost is our guide and gift from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It always persuades and encourages us to do good. “But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God” (Moroni 7:13). The Holy Ghost whispers kind, gentle instructions. It provides warnings, and sometimes it waits in silence for us to choose for ourselves before it lovingly communicates that we’ve either chosen well or poorly.
With an understanding of the goal, a clear map, eternal perspective, and an infallible guide, we can travel with confidence, enjoy the journey, and experience the peaceful assurance that our lives have purpose with each glorious step we take.