CHASING BUTTERFLIES

A young scientist who while exploring the jungles of Brazil on a life changing day discovered a large, beautiful and previously unclassified butterfly. His discovery brought him both a degree of fame among his colleagues and opportunities he had only dreamed of.

One day in the mail he received an invitation from a brilliant team of scientist who had developed a time machine. They extended to him the privilege of rewalking through that same fortuitous jungle anytime in the past he might choose.

Excited at the opportunity he soon found himself inside the expansive lab staring at the machine which would transport him back to the days before Europeans started to extract their toll on the Americas.

Before entering into the machines chambers and embarking on his journey the young scientist was adamantly instructed that when he found himself in the long ago, he would see a path under his feet leading into the jungle. With absoluteness he was instructed to be sure that he never left the path and eventually would need to return to his original arrival spot to be able to return to his present life.

With those feelings in his stomach and chest and even some weakness in the knees which always accompany entering a new adventure he entered the machine.

Before what seemed like the passage of any time at all he saw the path reaching out in front of him into the ancestral and pristine forestry. With diligence he walked down the path for some time enjoying scenes which hadn’t been seen for hundreds of years. Of a sudden he saw just off the path one of the ancient parents of the large and beautiful butterfly which had brought him early and opportunistic fame.

For just an instant he put aside the instruction that he must remain on the path and found himself following the magnificent creature into the denseness of the trees. Then all went black.

When our young hero awoke he found himself in a dingy room, sitting in a well-used arm chair, and dressed in shabby attire. With hardly a shadow of his former life lingering he bent down to put on his shoes and wondered about the large beautiful butterfly he found on the bottom of his left shoe.

Having completed the journey of our pre-mortal estate, each of us left the comfort of our heavenly home and were sent away to our mortal journey by our loving Father in Heaven to find the true path and then to diligently remain thereon.

Our Father has dispensationally marked the path with His heaven sent messages to us through His chosen messengers. He has laid upon them the charge to disseminate their inspired words to Heavenly father’s children during their sojourn on the earth and to record them for guidance of future generations.

Our failure to remain on the path seldom comes because of insufficient illumination or a lack of clarity of the path, but most often comes because of the distractions which are constantly on the peripheral of the journey.

For one the lateral eye catching attraction may come in the form of a distracting desire for self-gratifying riches, for another the honors of humanity may overwhelm their heaven directed humble walk and yet for another it might be the positioning by pride which causes them to divert themselves from the universal relationships given as an eternal mandate.

One thing remains sure, it really doesn’t matter from whence the source of distraction emanates. Leaving the eternally tested path could cause disruptions in our journey and may even have the effect of altering our ultimate destination. At the very least we may find ourselves having a much lesser degree of true joy as we make our mortal passage that our
Heavenly Father told Lehi, the ancient Nephite prophet, was the irrevocable blessing of remaining on the path.

Scriptures: 2 Nephi 2, 9