THE MASTER MENTOR

All the works of Heaven spring forth from…

Every man is commanded to speak…
Freedom comes to those who know…
Light comes to him who knows…
The righteous will be sanctified by…
The wise shall receive…
It embraceth itself…
There is no end to it…

Thus the prophets have spoken concerning truth, wisdom and understanding and the gifts that are bestowed upon those who seek and find it.

The story is told of an ancient fox trapper who mastered his craft in the North Country in the early days of the history of the United States of America, long before its vast space began to be filled by the westward migration stimulated for the quest for gold. After toiling for many lonely years in the wilderness, the day finally came when the creature comforts of far off cities pulled at him until he finally succumbed and announced to his few courageous peers that this year would mark his last season of gleaning pelts.

Residing in one of the tent shacks, which clustered together to make up what was generously referred to as the town, was an adventurous young man who had come west to find his fortune. The lad petitioned the ancient trapper that he might become his mentor in the skills of trapping. After a lengthy conversation the old man was persuaded to allow the young neophyte to be his apprentice for this one last season.

As the two journeyed together into the hills and then into the mountains the old master was particularly careful in his duties as he bequeathed his knowledge to his student. He found great excitement in the prospect of leaving his time-tried knowledge as a legacy which would be passed from his novice to a yet unborn future generation. After a season of meticulous care in setting and harvesting his traps, the once trapper now turned tutor returned from the mountains with his student, both being laden with the rewards of a bounteous yield of pelts. The old man could now look forward to his well-earned years of ease with the added joy of knowing that all he had learned over the years would not be lost because of his parting.

Some years later the ancient trapper, yielding to the beckoning call of the wild, and a curiosity to know of his apprentice's success, returned to the mountains of his own well spent youth. After an extended search he finally found his student who had all the appearances of impoverishment and an ill spent life. He was living in a run down shack with a meager supply of substance surrounding him.

Questions stumbled upon one another as the old man in his haste desired to know the cause of what seemed to be a life of failure on the trap lines.

"Had the fox run out?"
"Had the traps lost their spring?"
"Had the Indians driven the trappers from the mountains?"

To each question came haltingly humble almost inaudible reply, "no".

"What then had happened," queried the master trapper?

Almost too abruptly the answer left the lips of the destitute young man, "I FOUND A BETTER WAY".

What is there in the nature of almost all of Heavenly Father's children which causes them to reject the proven and seek for answers along an uncharted path? His hope is that there will come a generation who will heed and apply the words of the Master Mentor. Or will it be that each generation will be doomed to the fate of rejecting the tried and true eternal truths in a self destructive and fruitless self-disillusioning quest to find a so called "BETTER WAY".

With so many subtle and screaming voices vying for our attention how does one go about detecting the true path from a disappointing detour along a "BETTER WAY"? Do we really have any hope of:

Sorting through the information mountain…
Endeavoring to make established truths our own…
Firmly planting ourselves upon His well founded foundation…
Growing from a base of consistent eternal truth, wisdom and understanding; going forth ever building toward finding greater truth, wisdom and understanding…

I believe our TRUE WAY will be found through a daily diligent quest to find and apply in our lives, HIS WAY and not OUR WAY. One way this can come about is through daily earnest PRAYER, an activity of little effort for which we will be richly compensated in undreamed of dimensions.

The Lord has irrevocably decreed that whosoever diligently and humbly seeks to learn truth, wisdom and understanding shall be justified and shall gain intelligence in the land and shall be possessor of the ultimate freedom and receive all that I have.