This is a section of Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge's (of the seventy) talk "The Way" from the Saturday afternoon session of conference. It gave me some things to think about...
"My Yoke is Easy, and My Burden Is Light.
One of the most popular and attractive philosophies of men is to live life your own way, do your own thing, be yourself, don't let others tell you what to do. But the Lord said, "I am the way." He said, "Follow me." He said, "What manner of me ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am."
Don't think you can't. We might think we can't really follow Him because the standard of His life is so astonishingly high as to seem unreachable. We might think it is too hard, too high, beyond our capacity, at least for now. Don't ever believe that. While the standard of the Lord is the highest, don't ever it is only reachable by a select few who are most able.
In this singular instance life's experience misleads us. In life we learn that the highest achievements in any human endeavor are always the most difficult, and therefore, achievable only by a select few who are most able. The higher the standard, the fewer can reach it.
But that is not the case here because, unlike every other experience in this life, this is not a human endeavor. It is, rather the work of God. It is God's work and it is His "glory... to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." There is nothing else like it. Not anywhere. Not ever.
No institution, plan, program, or system ever conceived by men has access to the redeeming and transforming power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Therefore, while the Lord's invitation to follow Him is the highest of all, it is also achievable by everyone, not because He is, and because He can make us able too. "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind (everyone, living and dead) may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."
The Lord's way is not hard. Life is hard, not the gospel. "There is an opposition in all things," everywhere, for everyone. Life is hard for all of us, but life is also simple. We have only two choices. We can either follow the Lord and be endowed with His power, and have peace, light, strength, knowledge, confidence, love, and joy or we can go some other way, any other way, whatever other way, and go it alone - without His support, without His power, without guidance, grief, and despair. And I ask which way is easier?
He said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;... and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Life is hard, but life is simple. Get on the path and never, ever give up. You never give up. You just keep on going. You don't quit, and you will make it.
There is only one way to happiness and fulfillment. Jesus Christ is the Way. Every other way, any other way, whatever other way is foolishness."
