Are you strong enough to monkey bar?

Everyday at school I sit on the playground twice daily, while the kiddos play. There are several sets of monkey bars. Everyday I am amazed by how many daring children start and finish these treacherous tubes of metal that they cling to for their life. At least that's how I view them. I don't know about you, but all the memories that I have of monkey bars were blistered, red hands and sore muscles. Somehow though, these children have built up their strength in order to complete the task.



I was reading in 1Nephi8 today and was intrigued by one particular verse. It reads: "...behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree." Doesn't that sound like they were hanging? They used all of their strength to keep them up and then when they reached their destination they fell to the ground, exhausted with the amount of force it took to get them to the end. If you have ever been on monkey bars, you know that if you let go... you fall. Now the next verse seems to strengthen this view. It reads: "...many were drowned in the depths of the fountain..." I can just imagine several people going across this monkey bar rod of iron and either not being strong enough, or giving up and just letting themselves fall.



My next thought was, am I personally strong enough spiritually to hold on to the monkey bar rod of iron? I know physically I can't do the monkey bars (currently, because I have no upper body strength), but could I do it spiritually. I feel like this question should be asked repeatedly throughout one's life. We all go through up's and downs. Recently, I have been trying to get on the upward cycle of things. The simple things I used to do, just don't bring the same amount of spirituality that they used to. I need to step things up a notch, because as our spirits gain strength, Heavenly Father expects more of us.

I hope this new viewpoint helps someone. It definitely helped mine.