To Be A Pioneer

Many times in my life I have heard people say,
“Oh, I could never be a pioneer.”

When they think of a pioneer, they are usually thinking of the trek west. But there were many hard things that were required of the early Saints.

From the get-go the Latter-day Saints were a peculiar people.
They believed in angels, in living prophets, in modern revelation;
they left home and family to gather to Zion; they tried to live a United Order; they subscribed to a different code of health, and even practiced polygamy.

They were in many ways required to be different—
different from their families and friends,
from prevailing Christian thought,
from the mores of society,
and even from government.
For this they were mobbed and persecuted and driven from their homes.
Did they want that? Was it easy?
No, but they did it because the fire of their faith gave them the desire to, at any cost, be obedient to the Living God.

Maybe we're afraid that we couldn't have been a pioneer.
Just maybe we're afraid that we could.

Today we have our own mountains to climb.
Our mettle is being put to the test.
There are altars calling for our sacrifices.

Today we are asked to traverse a cultural wilderness (Neal A. Maxwell).
Do we need people with a greater vision for the world?
Do we need people who dare to be different?
Do we need to do hard things?
Absolutely.

And we CAN do it--
because of the light and truth that we have that the world doesn’t,
because of the fire of our faith that makes us want to be obedient at all cost, in spite of being persecuted or seeming peculiar.

And that journey, if we choose to accept it, will take us to a Promised Land, not just to the Celestial Kingdom of our God,
but to a place of freedom and peace and abundance in this life.

Whether we like to sleep under the stars or not,
we can be a pioneer --
by following a prophet,
by heeding the Voice of the Spirit,
by being obedient to the Lord at all costs.

We can, and, indeed, we must.