A great spot to hike when I visit my home state is Camelback Mountain near Scottsdale, Arizona.

The path up Camelback is rigorous. It winds and turns. It is steep. The terrain can be unforgiving.

There are parts of the trail where hikers benefit from a simple, but more than welcome metal handrail affixed at the side of the path. The handrail not only guides along the path, but it gives something to hold on to, something to lean on, and something to grasp as one pulls oneself with their arm strength to give slight relief to weary legs.

But even though the hike is challenging, the reward at the end is well worth it: stunning 360 degree views of the Valley of the Sun.

Early in the Book of Mormon, the prophet Lehi has a dream that has a profound impact on him and, in turn, becomes an “overarching theme of the Book of Mormon—inviting all to come unto Christ”¹

In the dream, after travelling in darkness for many hours and calling upon the Lord for help, Lehi arrives at a tree and partakes of its fruit that he describes as filling his “soul with exceedingly great joy” (1 Nephi 8:12).

After he eats the fruit, he wants his family to taste the fruit because he knows it will make them happy too. As he looks around for them, Lehi sees a river flowing near the tree and a rod of iron along the bank of the river. The rod of iron is affixed adjacent to a path leading to the tree where he stands.

In the account, the path is described as “strait and narrow.” 

This is s-t-r-a-i-t not s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t.

One of the definitions for strait is “strict; rigorous” and another is “difficult; distressful”.²

So, we are talking about a rigorous or difficult, and narrow path. It probably has its twists and turns. It probably isn’t flat. It’s probably not straight ahead. No wonder the path needs a rod beside it.

During a meeting with Primary children, President Russell M. Nelson had the following exchange:

Pearl: “Is it hard to be a prophet? Are you, like, really busy?”

President Nelson: “Of course it’s hard. Everything to do with becoming more like the Savior is difficult” (see the full exchange here).

The path is not meant to be easy for this very reason; “salvation is not a cheap experience“.³ It is meant to shape us and build our stamina. Life is rarely straight ahead. It can be rigorous.

But we do not walk the path alone. As Emily Belle Freeman recently said,

“His is also a mission of ascension. He will work within us to lift us up to where He is and, in the process, enable us to become as He is. Jesus Christ came to lift us. He wants to help us become . . .

“We must remember: it’s not the course alone that will exalt us; it’s the companion—our Savior. And this is the why of covenant relationship”.⁴

Further, as we ascend this path with the intent to reach the tree, God has given us and continues to give us His word wherein we learn of that covenant relationship. Nephi points out that the iron rod in his father’s dream represents the word of God (1 Nephi 11:25).

In the dream, those that made it to the rod, grabbed a hold of the “end of the rod of iron” (read more: The End of the Rod of Iron). The iron rod is something to hold on to, something to lean on, and something to grasp as we pull ourselves closer to Him.

The question then becomes whether we cling to or continually hold fast to the rod.

What’s the difference? Read “Clinging vs. Continually Holding: The Rod in Lehi’s Dream“.

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1. “Lehi’s Dream: Holding Fast to the Rod“, David A. Bednar, Ensign, October 2011
2. see Websters Dictionary 1828
3. “Missionary Work and the Atonement“, Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, March 2001
4. “Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ“, Emily Belle Freeman, General Conference, October 2023