Light and Goodness

This one is so true.  I found some today.  I have been run ragged with work lately.  We are busy and the prices are getting ready to go up and everyone wants to buy forever stamps before they have to pay more.  I work at a small office and went through 100 coils in the past 2.5 weeks.  Normally, it takes me a month to go through 50 coils, so it is a pretty big increase.  I ordered coils, but they did not come in.  All the other stamps did, but not my coils.  I reached out to a couple other Postmasters I know and found some within 50 miles of my station.  Today, I drove down to pick them up so that my customers have the stamps they need.
When I got there, my fellow Postmaster took me out to lunch and we talked and he got me 50 coils to sell.  By the time I arrived back at the office, we were out of coils.
This may seem like a small thing, but to me it really made my day.   I gave me a break from work, it got me out of the office for an actual lunch, and it reminded me that I am surrounded by good people everywhere.  I just have to look a little harder to find their welcoming light in my own world.
It is easy to feel surrounded by the difficulties in life.  It is easy to get lost in the darkness of the day to day trials.  But in the midst of them, there is someone willing to share their light with us.  All we have to do is look.

Embrace Belief

 

Sometimes, it is so easy to doubt.  It is a choice that we all succumb to now and then.  We live in a world of instant gratification.  We want something, and we want it right now.  We get instant TV, instant entertainment, instant meals, instant shipping.  We can order something today and have it later today or tomorrow, just as if we went to the store for it, but without all the bother of actually doing it.  In all of this crazy mixed up world of instantness, we also have our own fears and doubts. 

I think that Heavenly Father is not an instant God.  He doesn't give us what we are praying for right this minute.  He usually makes us exercise a little faith first.  Think about waiting for baptism, waiting for the Priesthood, waiting to go to the temple.  Waiting, constantly waiting.

I love the story of Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego in the Old Testament.  Three Hebrew men thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, when they refuse to bow down to the king's image; the three are preserved from harm and the king sees four men walking in the flames, "the fourth ... like a son of God".   

I love that God did not ask them to go through this alone.  That He was there with them all through their trials.  I love that it mattered to Him that they felt His love for them.  Because they did not doubt, but instead embraced their belief, they were blessed to see God.  They were blessed to come out of their trials stronger than before.  They were blessed to bring change to the world around them. 

There are times when we all doubt, when we fear, when we questions, when we don't know the answers to the problems.  There are times when life is hard, when it is not fair, when their seems to be no justice or mercy or even love.   But I have learned that doubting is a choice.  I have learned that sometimes we have to wait for the answers to the questions.  Sometimes those answers take even longer to come than we ever imagined. 

In spite of the doubts, we can still find hope and belief and even joy.  We can choose to embrace the good and let go of whatever it is that is holding us back. 

We choose to embrace the light instead of the darkness. 

We choose hope.

We choose belief.

We choose joy.

We choose Him.

 

 

 

Turn On the Light

 

 

 

I am afraid of the dark.  My imagination gets going and I can dream up any wickedness you can imagine.  When I was a child, I watched one, single, horror movie.  I have nightmares of drowning and bodies to this day.  My imagination needs no help!

I remember one night when I saw a face in the window.  It seemed to my child's mind to be very evil.  I saw dark hair and blue eyes.  I felt sure that he could see me too and that he wanted me. 

For the first time in my very young life, I got to my knees under the covers and prayed.  I prayed with all the sincerity of my 5 year old self.  I prayed that Heavenly Father would keep the man away and that he could not hurt me.  I didn't dare look at the window until much later, but I prayed until I was comforted.

During that prayer, I felt the knowledge come into my mind to know where a flash light was.  Tiptoeing silently through the small apartment, I went to he right drawer and pulled the flashlight that I found there, I also pulled some extra batteries.  I ran back to bed with that small light and kept it under the covers to protect me from the darkness.

I don't know what my mother thought happened to that small light, but I kept it for many years.  I put it carefully between the wall and the bed.  As a teenager, it was my reading light and my babysitting light.  I used it when I needed to see something and when I needed to feel secure.  I also used it when I needed to see my way home in the darkness. 

Not only can happiness be found when you remember to turn on the light, but I learned that safety and security could be found also.  I learned the God answers prayers, even for very young insecure children, and I learned that I really was loved and watched over.

I learned how to turn on the light. 

   



Find your way back

More importantly to me is that we all have part of the light within us.  In our trials and difficulties, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that we are beautifully and wonderfully made.  He is not a Heavenly Father that does not welcome us back.  He is not a Father that doesn't forgive.  He is not a father who never forgets what we have done or who thinks that we have done things so terrible that we are not worth saving.  That has never been His message to us. 
He loves us exactly as we are right this minute.  He wants us to return to Him.  He wants us to know that we are loved and needed and wanted in this life and the next.  He wants us to know that there is still hope even when we feel wounded and hopeless. 

Luke 12:6-7

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

 

We have value, we have worth, we are so, so loved. 

The source of the light

I was really touched by this one.  I have not been able to see a silver lining for a very long time.  Sometimes, it feels as if God cannot possibly be there.  This was a good reminder for me.  My mind knows that He is there, my testimony knows he is there, but my heart can feel very alone sometimes. 
I have learned that we are all going through different "stuff".  Often, it feels like more than we can possibly bear. 
It hurts. 
It hinders.
It blinds us to what might be coming. 
The "stuff" we go through becomes our own mixed up sense of reality.  It isn't our entire existence, but it can certainly feel like it.  It can make everything else feel like a negative in our lives.  The very hardest thing for me during those times is to trust God that it will somehow work out right. 
As I listen to the talks of others, I know that there have been many things that I have not had to go through.  But the things that are on my plate, are more than enough for me.  I used to believe that God never gave us things that we couldn't handle.  I have come to understand that He does.  He gives us many things that are too great for us to bear alone.  Those things turn our hearts toward Him. 
I don't believe that he causes our problems and difficulties.  I do believe that they are caused by three things:  One is our own sins.  Our own decisions when they are the wrong choices can give us pain and suffering. 
Two is the sins of others.  I don't believe that the Lord causes abuse or anger or murder or anything else.  I have learned that He allows us all our free agency and when people make bad choices, it leads to bad things for others. 
Three is sometimes it is just life.  Hurricanes happen, tornadoes, flooding, famine, hardships.  All those things can bring pain and suffering that we are not exempt from. 
I am over simplifying here, but still it remains true.  God does not cause our problems.  He does allow us to go through things that are too big for us to bear alone.  We can choose to turn to Him and know that He is there.  We can choose to believe that somehow, in ways we have yet to understand, the blessings will be more than the suffering. 
He is the source of the light in the darkness of life.  If we turn to Him, whatever happens in the here and now is not the most important thing we will go through.  Choosing Him in the midst of darkness, is. 

Glow Yourself

First, we have to take care of ourselves.  First, we have to find our own lights.  Then, once we are glowing, we can spread that light to others.  It seems easy, but it can be so hard. 
I love candles.  I love the way they flicker and glow and light up a room in the darkness.  A long time ago, when I was small, we weren't allowed to play with matches.  When the lights went out, my mom always lit the house with candles.  I even had them in my room, but the only way that I was allowed to light it, was to hold the wick next to one that was already lit. 
I would get so excited to see the light I was holding flicker into life with the flame from my mother's candle. 
Her light spread to me.  My light would flare to life and grow because of her one small flame.  So it is in life.  Our lights grow as we share them with others.  Our testimonies become stronger, our faith more sure, our lights more bright.  When we share, we are not weakened, we are strengthened. 
As I struggle in my own life, I find that I am strengthened by sharing my thoughts and feelings with those around me.  We might not always see eye to eye, but we can always share heart to heart and light to light.