In times of darkness, you may think that Christ’s light has abandoned you. But when you can’t see, that’s when you turn on the flashlight.
Having grown up on a farm, I find the sun a source of light, hope, and joy. But the sun sets every night, giving way to the softer glow of the moon. I have become accustomed to seeing by moonlight rather than streetlights, but when I have to work outside after the sun has set, I often find that I need something brighter than the moon. When the moon doesn’t seem to provide enough light, how can we see through the endless shadows? Similarly, do we ever feel blind in our own lives, the radiant light of the gospel appearing too dim?
Photo by Felix Mittermeier
In his article “Lessons from Light,” Eric Adams, a fourth-generation photographer, relates moments of our lives to “flash lighting” and “natural lighting” in photography. The first is a brief, intense illumination while the second is a long-lasting, steady light—both help a photographer capture the perfect image. A flash moment is an event that suddenly and fiercely turns your world to the light of Christ, but only “natural lighting,” the “continuous flow of light” that comes from intentionally turning to Christ, will clearly illuminate your life. As Adams says, “It isn’t until we ‘come unto Him’ through prayer, scripture study, and making and keeping sacred covenants that we become illuminated by His light.”
When I’m out on the farm with my dad and the moon seems dim, I turn on a flashlight to guide us across the rocky terrain. In our lives, like in photography, we spend every moment just trying to capture the right amount of light. Sometimes that means that we have to let in more light by intentionally turning to Christ. As Adams says, “[God’s] light is always there to find,” and if we don’t like our picture, we just need to let a little more light in.
Read more from Eric Adams’s “Lessons from Light” to find out how to let Christ’s light into your life even if you feel like you’re surrounded by darkness.
Source: ChurchofJesusChrist.org Blog
—Shaelyn Topolovec, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY MILAN POPOVIC
Find more insights
Learn more about how to preserve your light in Elder Vern P. Stanfill’s “Choose the Light.”
Read “Bearers of Heavenly Light” by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf to discover how you can be a bearer of light for someone else.
Take a look at Laura Fuchs’s article “Finding Light in Laoag” to learn more about trusting in God’s light.
Watch Elder David A. Bednar’s video “Patterns of Light: Spirit of Revelation” to understand more about how God communicates through light.