When I was a teenager, my dad took my brother and I on a week-long wilderness backpacking trip. Our goal was to hike about fifty miles across a particular mountain range. Along the way, we had an experience that has taught me about sin and repentance on our path back to our Heavenly Father.
It took us a couple of weeks to prepare for the trip. My brother and I needed larger packs and we had to find food and other supplies that wouldn't add too much weight. I needed some new hiking pants and my mom found a cool pair that zipped off into shorts. Finally, we got a ride to the trailhead, confirmed where we would meet my mom at the end of the week, and set off.
For the first few days, everything went well. We were right on schedule, we found plenty of water and the food we had packed was so much better than when we had sampled it at home. The trail was challenging at times, and we had to find shelter during the daily afternoon downpour, but we were enjoying the experience and what time we had for a little fishing at the end of each day.
Around the fourth day of our expedition, we climbed a difficult pass and stopped at the top to rest for several moments. Although it was early in the day, we were tired and sore from three previous days of hiking with our heavy packs. As we prepared to resume, my dad, who had been studying the map, suggested an alternate route. The next part of the trail formed a large horseshoe shape, he observed, and if we could cut across the top of the horseshoe we would certainly save a lot of time and unnecessary distance.
With some uneasiness about the new plan, at least on my part, we began walking across the mountain tundra. It was harder to walk through the grass and rocks and after a few hours I began to wonder if we'd missed the trail somehow. When we ran out of water, we decided to keep going and hoped to find a spring ahead of us. Physically and emotionally exhausted, I prayed for help to keep going and survive the week.
At last we came to the top of a tall cliff. It was as long as we could see in either direction and the obvious reason for the trail's long detour. Unsure of how to proceed, we found a spot to take off our packs and rest while we decided what to do.
After a few minutes of catching our breath, my dad stood up and walked over to where my brother and I were seated. He picked up our packs, walked to the cliff, and threw the packs as far as he could down the mountainside. My brother and I were stunned. My dad paused for a moment and then said something like, "Well, I guess we'd better go and get them."
Eventually, we found our way down the cliff and slid down the rockslide at the base. More time passed as I worked to close a big hole I'd torn in the seat of my new pants and bandage a few good scratches. My brother located a spring (back at the top of the rockslide, of course) and refilled our water containers. When we were able to regroup, we continued our cross-country "shortcut" and found the trail another hundred feet from the bottom of the rockslide.
Although our chosen route was shorter, it was much more difficult and took more time to complete than if we had continued on the trail. I ruined my pants and some of our things were broken in their flight off the cliffs. Now less prepared than before and unable to make our planned rendezvous, we spent the rest of the week hiking carefully down a new trail that led off of the mountain to a small town. We made it just in time to call our ride home before she left to pick us up in the wrong place.
As we journey through life, we sometimes decide to take routes that detour off the "strait and narrow" covenant path. It can be especially easy to do when we are feeling tired, overconfident, or discouraged.
When we leave the path, the Lord always invites us to repent-- to turn around and return to the trail that leads to our rendezvous with Him. He knows the covenant path is not easy. Like crossing a mountain range, our lives have peaks and valleys with obstacles and steep inclines between each summit. The Lord also knows that the covenant path is the surest way to our divine destination.
Repentance is "a change of mind and heart that brings a fresh attitude toward God, oneself, and life in general." It "implies that a person turns away from evil and turns his heart and will to God, submitting to God's commandments and desires and forsaking sin" (Guide to the Scriptures, "Repent, Repentance"). In other words, repentance includes returning to the trail and a humble willingness to continue to follow it. It includes gratitude for the trail, with all its obstacles and detours, and a recognition that it is the only way to achieve our goal.
Sometimes we wander needlessly through the more difficult wilderness even when there are indications we should return to the covenant path. We rationalize our way across the tundra, figuratively run out of water, and eventually find ourselves at the precipice of decisions that may have more significant impacts on our spiritual welfare and life journey.
If I had returned to the trail more quickly, I would have been able to recover much of the time that was lost. I would not have run out of water, injured myself, or ruined my pants. My dad and brother and I would have almost certainly reached our goal on the other side of the mountain range.
Likewise, when we do incur the damages of an unexpected cliff and rockslide, we sometimes forget that complete repentance includes changing the behaviors that originally led us off the path and toward the cliffs. We walk away from these experiences with resolve not to go over the cliffs, as it were, but without changing the attitudes and behaviors that led us off the trail in the first place.
The Gospel Topics essay on the Church website teaches us:
It is not enough to simply try to resist evil or empty our lives of sin. We must fill our lives with righteousness and engage in activities that bring spiritual power. We must immerse ourselves in the scriptures and pray daily for the Lord to give us strength beyond our own. At times, we should fast for special blessings.
Full obedience brings the complete power of the gospel into our lives, including increased strength to overcome our weaknesses. This obedience includes actions we might not initially consider part of repentance, such as attending meetings, paying tithing, giving service, and forgiving others.
Gratefully, all is not lost when we have gone over a cliff. Regardless of our route, we needed my mom to pick us up at the end of the week and drive us back to the safety and comfort of home. Our detour changed our experience in significant ways, but getting back on the trail and sticking to it allowed us to reach a different, but equally accessible, place where my mom could find us.
Sometimes our detours off the covenant path may have lasting effects on our life experience, but the trail is never far from where we are. As we repent and return to the path, the Lord can show us the route to His grace. With faith in Christ and our own significant effort, we can be reconciled to God (2 Nephi 25:23) and experience the joy and rest of returning home (2 Nephi 11:5).