Paved roads

One of the things that I have had the opportunity to do while living here is to go into the woods to cut firewood.  My first trips were with my woods-wise colleagues from work.  Something that I soon learned was that the rougher the road seemed, the more likely it was that we would find the wood we were looking for along it.  There were times I was quite surprised that their little trucks could even get in to the places they did - yet they always came out again full of wood - for less turns of the tire too. 
As I've studied Church History and the Doctrine and Covenants this year I have found the same thing to be true of the lives of Church members early in this dispensation.  It seemed that the more they tried to stay on the right path the more difficult it became.  Many of those early members were driven from their homes two or three times, some were imprisoned, and nearly all faced sickness and exposure to extreme degrees.  The straight and narrow path is indeed steeper than it seems - and perhaps I hope from time to time that it were better paved.
There is one "Griffin" mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants who lived during that time and faced those difficulties.  I remember my disappointment when I discovered that he Selah J. had abandoned the faith because the way was too hard.  He left for the pavement I guess
Recently I have felt the Lord wrenching my very heart strings - not dramatically or in powerful display, but He has consistently called me from a way of comfort, success, and pleasure to a different path.  Somehow again I had expected that this different path would be more immediately rewarding than it has been to this point.  This week has in fact been more difficult than most.  Yet somehow, there is peace in the plain road.  Perhaps it is less passable - less paved - because it is meant for the travel of just a pair at a time - me and my Lord.