Light!

It's staying light later in the day! As I left work a little after 5 p.m. yesterday I realized it was still daylight. Woohoo! After the dark months of November, December, and January this is a wonderful gift. Recently I've been thinking about light and the sun and the Son. Some middle school students were being questioned about whether or not we need light to see. The students did not believe we need light to see. They were probed about their thinking and they believed that even total darkness with absolutely no light -- eventually their eyes would adjust to the dark and they would be able to see. One of the students was placed in a room that was darkened so there was absolutely no light from any source. She was in the room (with an adult) and even after quite a few minutes she believed that eventually she would be able to see. She was not convinced that her eyes would never adjust to a completely dark room and that she would never see in the absence of light. Yet, it is a fact that without light our eyes do not see. We rarely, if ever, experience complete darkness. Possibly in a cave, deep in the earth we could experience this. Most of the time, even in a very dark room, there are tiny fragments of light -- even the littlest bit of light allows us to see.

In relationship to the above fact, I've also been thinking about the fact that all of us are born with the Light of Christ.We are born with the light to see the truth. We are taught in the Book of Mormon that the light or Spirit of Christ is given to every person to enable them to know good from evil. We are not born in darkness, we come from a world and environment filled with the light, the Light of Christ, and we bring that with us into the world. I believe that is why new babies and small children are so sweet and delightful -- they are still touched by the warmth and light of Christ.

I've also been thinking about sunflowers. Sunflowers always follow the sun. We aren't as obedient as sunflowers. We don't always follow the Son. We are born with His light and yet, often we refuse to follow the light. I love thinking about this -- what a wonderful gift from Heavenly Father and all we have to do is nurture and nourish our soul with truth and obedience, and love. When we do this -- we can experience even greater light. When we exercise faith in Christ, unto repentance, choose to be baptized, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and then take His name upon us through the ordinances of the temple, we receive more and more light. We become obedient like the sunflowers.