We need Pioneers Today

Can we somehow muster the courage and steadfastness of purpose that characterized the pioneers of a former generation?

Can you and I, in actual fact, be pioneers? I know we can be.

Oh, how the world needs pioneers today!"
—Thomas S. Monson, "The World Needs Pioneers Today"

Oh how I love these modern day pioneers!   We live in times of change.  Times of difficulty, times of great sorrow and great joy.  There is such a need for those who are willing to help us to walk the way that we need to go.  There is a need for those willing to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places.  There is need for those who are willing to be more than just common.  Those who are willing to be extraordinary.  The world is changing and we cannot draw away from those things that are eternal truths.  It is so easy to be persuaded toward the ordinary ways.  It is so desirable to walk the easy path.  The path of least resistance.  But we must hold to the Iron Rod in our own lives.  We must be willing to be pioneers in these treacherous times.  We must be of one heart and one purpose.  We must be willing to make a difference in our own lives as well as the lives of others.  We must indeed become pioneers.