Easiness of the Way

"He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished.
-1 Nephi 17:41, emphasis added

This verse struck me, as I was reading yesterday. The first thing I learned, that I hadn't realized before, was that they were to look after they were bitten. I always thought they were supposed to look so that they wouldn't get bitten, but that's not the case. If they were bitten by the snakes, all they had to do was look at the pole, and they were healed.

How many times are we "bitten" in life? "Life is hard," as Lawrence E. Corbridge said in Conference. But it is also simple. All we have to do is follow Christ! However, how many times do we get stuck "because of the simpleness of the way"? The world makes us think that if we mess up, we have to jump through all kinds of hoops in order to get back to where we were. But that's not the Lord's way. All we have to do is look to the Lord!

And how do we do this? Again, it's in the simple things. The "Sunday School answers," as many people call them.
- read your scriptures daily, individually and as a family
- pray daily
- have Family Home Evening
- attend Church
- go to the temple
- keep the commandments

I, for one, won't be calling these Sunday School answers anymore. They are the Lord's way. They're the "simple" things in life that will help us return to Him. There's a reason why they're the answer to every question!! It's because they ARE the answer to every question! If our life isn't going the way we want it, these are the things we need to return to. These are the things that make life simple!