In the 1865 English novel, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll, a young girl named Alice falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world. Going down the rabbit hole, she discovers a White Rabbit, a caterpillar, the Queen of Hearts, and many other fascinating characters. Nearly all these characters treat Alice very poorly. Some have interpreted Carroll’s story of how Alice was treated as a reflection of how Carroll was mistreated by older people while he was a child. Today, “going down the rabbit hole” has become an idiom for getting sucked into a situation that is often difficult to escape.
Time Travel
Since my youth, I have always been fascinated by the concept of time travel. From H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine” to Albert Einstein’s theory of Relativity. From “Back to the Future” to Star Trek IV’s slingshot around the sun to go back in time. Each story suggesting that one could somehow travel forward or backward in time sends my mind into limitless possibilities. I’ve often thought about what I would say to my younger self if I could travel back in time. I’ve wondered at what point in my life would I be most able to influence my future. This is usually where I get caught in the paradox. Assuming that changing my past would change my present creates a loop I can’t get my head out of 😊. I’ll leave that project up to people much more intelligent than I am.
I’m confident that, given the chance, we would all like to go back to visit our earlier selves. We could then make a change to stop ourselves from doing something we regret. For me, this becomes a rabbit hole of despair and sorrow for mistakes I’ve made. Those mistakes have hurt others for which there is no magical escape. I fear that some of us get stuck here, stuck in the rabbit hole, searching for an escape. We search for a way to stop descending into darkness and try desperately to discover a way back out.
The Father of Lies
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland once taught: “I wish at the outset to make a distinction F. Scott Fitzgerald once made, that “trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement—discouragement has a germ of its own, as different from trouble as arthritis is different from a stiff joint” (The Crack-Up, 1945).
“Troubles we all have, but the “germ” of discouragement, to use Fitzgerald’s word, is not in the trouble, it is in us. Or to be more precise, I believe it is in Satan, the Prince of Darkness, the Father of Lies. And he would have it be in us. It’s frequently a small germ, hardly worth going to the Health Center for, but it will work and it will grow and it will spread. In fact it can become almost a habit, a way of living and thinking, and there the greatest damage is done. Then it takes an increasingly severe toll on our spirit, for it erodes the deepest religious commitments we can make—those of faith, and hope, and charity. We turn inward and look downward, and these greatest of Christlike virtues are damaged or at very least impaired. We become unhappy and soon make others unhappy, and before long Lucifer laughs.” (“For Times of Trouble” March 18, 1980)
Climbing Out
Breathing deeply, I have accepted my mistakes and trusted in the price my Savior has paid for those mistakes. I will regret some decisions in my life for the remainder of my mortal journey. However, I do not regret the lessons I have learned or the faith and trust in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ during the repentance process. This “germ-killing” process has brought me to know God more fully. It has helped me to understand His plan for me and has led me to where I am today.
Today, I love God more deeply than ever before in my life. And He is helping me share that love with many others who need help with finding a way out of their rabbit holes. There is a hand reaching out in the darkness, the hand of God is stretched out still. If you cannot see it and need help finding a grip, my hand is right here. There are many other hands stretched out, willing to lift you up into the light. Reach out, hold on, and leave the rabbit hole behind you. May God lift you up and hold you close this day.
