We love to camp, and often spend summer weekends somewhere in the great outdoors. As spring approaches we can barely wait to get the trailer packed and head out. Last Spring, in our excitement, we went too early. We pulled into the sand dunes in Delta, Utah just in time for a major windstorm. What was meant to be a nice relaxing weekend in the soft, warm sunshine turned into a terrible wilderness experience as we traveled all over southern Utah trying to find a break from the wind. We finally ended up at Yuba Lake. It was still really windy, but at least we weren’t surrounded by miles of sand. That afternoon the kids wanted to hike down to the lake. Bundled up in hooded jackets, we followed a small trail down a sharp 25 foot incline and found ourselves in a little cove, with water from the lake lapping along the shore. It only took a few seconds to realize that the wind was not blowing in that little cove. Immediately, we removed our jackets to soak up the warm sunshine, and began to skip rocks across the smooth surface of the lake in front of us. I looked out and watched the whitecaps in the center of the lake that had formed from the force of the wind, and thought how interesting it was that somehow we had found the calm in the midst of the storm. Looking back on that trip, I remember that moment as one of the good parts. Recently I read through 2 Nephi 2 and I noticed that Lehi chose “the good part” just like Martha’s sister, Mary did. I love the understanding that comes from this chapter. Lehi begins by speaking to Jacob, his first-born in the wilderness. He describes that wilderness experience with these words: tribulation, suffer, afflictions, and much sorrow. Then he counsels Jacob by saying, “he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.” The rest of the chapter is filled with Lehi’s testimony of the importance of free agency, and his abiding belief that men are free to choose. At the very end of that chapter, after testifying of the Savior, Lehi remarks, “and I have chosen the good part.” (2 Nephi 2:30) With careful reflection and a moment of pause we are led to understand a very powerful principle. In the midst of our wilderness experiences we are free to choose. We can immerse ourselves in the tribulation, as we suffer through afflictions and sorrow, or we can understand that God will consecrate our afflictions for our gain. That doesn’t mean that the wilderness experience will be taken away, or even that it will become easier. It simply means that through that wilderness experience we can choose to come to know the greatness of God, and understand, just as Lehi did, that “all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.”(vs. 24) We can choose “the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah.”(vs. 8) We can choose the good part.