Is it Dark in There?

 “I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell” (2 Nephi 33:6).

One night while out for a walk I found myself looking out at the top of the hill.  The moon and the stars shone beautifully above me, and the lights from the city glowed below.  I was suddenly very impressed by the strength of the light coming at me in so many different directions.  Even in the darkness of night, light was everywhere.

I am sometimes depressed thinking about the political and civil unrest flooding the world, disasters and accidents, dishonesty and immorality, diseases and infirmities, corruption, poverty, abuse, and oppression which has filled so many corners of the earth.  There are a lot of dark places, even and sometimes especially in our most private and personal spaces.

I was always a little afraid of the dark.  I was the kid that had to leap into bed from across the room to avoid the scary monsters hiding underneath.  Darkness is disorienting, overwhelming, and distressing. It has power to incite a great sense of loneliness and fear in me.  In contrast, light is illuminating, perhaps also overwhelming, but uplifting, reassuring, and powerful.  Light always penetrates through darkness, but darkness never penetrates through light; which means we are rarely ever in darkness.  And, even in the darkness of night, light is everywhere.

Jesus Christ is “the light of the world” (John 8:12).  What does that mean for us?  I would compare His light to the light of the sun.  Sunlight doesn’t just help us see things.  Sunlight provides different types and degrees of radiation that produce energy. Light quite literally sustains life.  We cannot live without it.  The Savior is our light.  His light sustains our lives.  He has experienced the darkest abyss, the ultimate loneliness, the deepest suffering possible so that we don’t have to.  We can rely on His light to sustain us. 

I know that Jesus is the Christ.  I know that He paid the ultimate price so that you and I could return to Him and our heavenly home.  He didn’t have to do that, but He did because He loves us, and like our Father He wants us back.  I know that all things are possible through Christ the Lord and Master.  Because of Him I can be cleansed from sin and free from guilt, my body and mind can be healed from my infirmities and afflictions, my family can be forever.  Because of Him all wrongs can be made right, I have power and strength beyond my own, death is not the end.  Because of Him I can be a better person, and because of Him I want to be.

I am grateful for His trust in us and I am grateful for His perfect light.  

Because of Him