Holding Fast to The Word and Love of God

1 Nephi Chapter 8 is all about Lehi's vision of the tree of life. I thought I was very well acquainted with these verses, but no matter how many times you read the scriptures, you can always receive new personal revelation/interpretation from them. In the latter part of Lehi's vision, he begins to explain the many multitudes of people he sees pressing onward to get to the tree of life. Two groups in particular were very similar, but have two very symbolic differences. The first group are spoken of in verse 24: "And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and hey came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree." The second group are in verse 30, "But, to be short in writing, 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." The first major difference between these two groups is the way in which they are holding to the rod of iron. The first group is 'clinging' to the rod. Clinging almost sounds like a fear word... like they are moving forward out of fear! On the other hand, the second group was 'continually holding FAST' to the rod of iron. To me that sounds like faith... they were moving forward out of faith. I don't know why but I just really liked that difference. It really helped me to know that I should not just be clinging onto the word of God when I'm scared or in desperate need of help, but rather I need to be continually holding fast to His word. Every day I should be searching them and pondering them, holding fast to them all the time, not just sometimes.
The second difference is very symbolic. Notice in the first group they came to the tree and partook of it and thats definitely amazing, but if you look at the second group they came forth and 'fell down' and partook of the fruit. The fruit IS the Love of God. And It is when we have fallen to our knees that we feel His love. We feel his love when we use His atonement, and so often we feel that most when we are pleading on our knees. I love that. This reminded me of the quote that goes something like, "When we can no longer stand on our own, fall to your knees." God is always there. And he is listening. He is waiting for us, wanting to bless us with His love. A love that we cannot yet comprehend, but we feel it as he encircles us with His arms through the feelings of the spirit. He is waiting or us with outstretched arms. And when we have that amazing opportunity to see His face, Our Savior's nail printed hands and feet, we will undoubtedly fall to our knees at His feet. 

Another thing dealing with prayer is the fact that parts of this life are going to be difficult just as I imagine parts of the trail leading to the tree were very steep and difficult to get to. Parts where you could only get through them on your knees. 
We as imperfect humans could never succeed in our lives (both here on earth and in the eternities) if it weren't for Christ and His redeeming love. Pray to God for guidance and strength. On our knees is the only way we'll truly be able to overcome adversity.  Hold fast to that knowledge. Hold fast to his word. And hold fast to His love.