our "doors in the wall"

I read “The Door in the Wall” recently to my kids, a book about a boy in the middle ages who becomes lame before he gets a chance to go apprentice as a knight. His world seems hopeless when a monk comes along and starts pointing out “doors in the wall”, or ways to help him get through the seemingly endless walls before him. It touches on work, determination, developing skills like carving and music that he can do, education in other ways—like reading--, and attitude as “doors” in his “wall” of trials. Since then, it seems so applicable when I am faced with obstacles. Even though they seem to stretch on, I love the analogy that if we go along far enough or work hard enough, we can find a door in our wall.

I was struck by a further comparison this morning in my scripture reading: in 2 Ne. 31:7-9, Nephi reminds us of the straitness of the path and the narrowness of the gate, which is the way to eternal life. It made me think that the basics of the gospel: baptism, repentance, faith, and following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. They are precise, but they are the sure gate to happiness and eternal life :). It reminded me of the statement made by C.S. Lewis in “Mere Christianity”: he comments about how people want God to make religion simple, “as if 'religion' were something God invented, and not His statement to us of certain quite unalterable facts about His own nature.” (pg 41) The “doors in the wall” of baptism and repentance are not some hoops God made for us to jump through, but things He knows are eternal principles that will lead us to eternal life and salvation. He wants us to be where He is, so He has told us the way through the prophets and shown us the way through the living example of His Son. So cool!