Time to go back for Straggles

Since being a Lamoureux I have joined in the tradition of reading the newspaper while eating breakfast. Anyways, this morning I came across an article I really liked and wanted to share with my fellow bloggers... It is titled "Time to go back for Straggles". I really liked the way Jerry Johnston wrote his article and I don't feel I could do it justice, which is why he writes for the newspaper and I don't; so here it is:

Time to go back for Stragglers
by Jerry Johnston

Epic stories are forever fresh. They hold up no matter how often we tell them. And with each telling, they reveal new insights.

So it is with the epic journey of the Mormon Pioneers.

New lessons are always being learned from that trek.

But maybe we take one of those "pioneer lessons" a little too much to heart.

It is the lesson of the "forward push."

Some sea creatures must keep moving forward or they die. So it was, I think, with the Mormon Pioneers. Some pushed, some pulled, but if they dawdled they died.

Like the thirsty man in the desert pursuing water, they couldn't afford to lose their focus. Many people had to be buried in tear-soaked shallow graves. Many stragglers who simply couldn't keep going abandoned the march. The pioneers were on a quest. Their motto was "wend your way." Their lives depended on their willingness to put one foot in front of the other.

And that, I think, is where we sometimes go awry.

We often adopt that same "marching to the promised land" attitude.

If a fellow traveler grows weak in spirit or a neighbor falls by the wayside, we tend to sing "press on, press on" and move along.

As Shakespeare would say, we "leave them to heaven." We can't risk being derailed.

But our physical lives are not at risk now.

What's at risk are our spiritual lives.

And a spiritual life demands we do something counter-intuitive. Spirituality demands that we turn around. Pushing on while others struggle is not the answer.

The early pioneers couldn't go back for those who fell by the way.

We can.

Nobody needs to be consigned to a "shallow grave" so the living are preserved.

The living are preserved by keeping people out of those shallow graves.

Today, the Saints need to be the first to stop and the last to leave the scene.

In pioneer days, people could lose their lives if they went back for others.

In our day, we could lose our spiritual lives if we don't.

Too many times, I fear, we prefer the saying "he who hesitates is lost" to the saying "look for the lost sheep."

We use the words "overcome" and "conquer" more than the words "minister" and "heal."

We should remember "the first shall be last and last first" and keep in mind that staying behind to help is the surest way to get ahead.

Our will is not as vital for survival now. But following the will of one greater is.

The Mormon Pioneers were an epic breed. For members of the LDS Church, they will forever be the true "greatest generation."

They trudged West so that you and I could be born and experience life.

Now, perhaps the best way to honor them this July 24th is to lose the lives they gave us in trying to rescue those who have been languishing behind.