Lessons learned on Angels Landing...

So I hiked Angels Landing yesterday. It was awesome. I loved it. It felt so good to climb something...and feel sunshine...and spend time with friends that cause me to laugh so hard that I cry...and save my life.
Today in Relief Society we had a lesson on the Fall of Adam and Eve and it's importance. I had a genius realization in relation to my experience yesterday. We were near the top of this "little" peak and we were actually on our way down. From some of the pictures, you may have noticed that there were chains anchored on the mountain so that there is something to hold on to while traipsing across the slick rock. Remember, it's March. There were still patches of snow on the trail in certain shady spots. Shady spots, slick rock, ice/snow...it was a great experience. I'm not going to lie-there was sliding involved. There was sliding A LOT closer to the edge than I was comfortable with. I will be FOREVER grateful that Karen was just ahead of me and stopped me from sliding over the 1000 foot cliff. In a sense, my fall was necessary. I wanted to get down the mountain. I had to take THAT trail and apparently sliding was necessary as well. I probably didn't even fall as much as I feel like I fell, but it was enough to get my heart beating and Karen got a HUGE hug once we got back to stable ground.
So...how does this apply to Adam and Eve? They fell. It was necessary that they fell so that the Plan of Salvation could actually take place. I had always heard that instead of falling down or falling backward, Adam and Eve had fallen forward. They progressed in their fall. After yesterday, I think I want to tweak that a little bit. I want to think that it was a controlled fall. It was necessary for them to fall so that they could arrive where they wanted to arrive. The Lord was not about to let them fall off a thousand foot cliff and even if it did let them fall...he was going to pad the landing for them. Sometimes fall are terrifying and painful, but we learn from them. Once upon a time, I had a neighbor who had a magnet on her fridge that said, "The harder you fall, the higher you bounce." I'm grateful for my little experience yesterday and I'm glad that I had the opportunity learn without actually falling off the cliff.