Light and Truth

I was reminded by one of my children's friends that I had not posted in a long while. So, here goes!

In our seminary classes recently we were discussing the principles of Light and Truth in Doctrine and Covenants 93:24-42. The gist of the first part of the lesson was that we add Light into our lives by obeying the commandments (v. 28), saying our daily prayers, studying our scriptures, etc. As we add this spiritulal Light we understand Truth or in other words we understand God and his ways. The glory of God is intelligence, or in other words, Light and Truth (v. 37). We also have a greater ability to withstand temptation. Verses 39 and 42 teach us that the evil one seeks to take away Light and Truth from us through disobedience and therefore, to have power over us.

The second part of our lesson was centered on our opportunity/responsibility to share the Light we have with others (Matthew 5:14-16) as Christ did. I then shared a portion of a powerful story I came across in Roberts Fulghum's book, "It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It". This is a short excerpt from that story:


At the last session on the last morning of a two-week seminar on Greek culture, led by intellectuals and experts in their fields who were recruited by Papaderos from across Greece, Papaderos rose from his chair at the back of the room and walked to the front, where he stood in the bright Greek sunlight of an open window and looked out. We followed his gaze across the bay to the iron cross marking the German cemetery.



He turned. And made the ritual gesture: "Are there any questions?"


Quiet quilted the room. These two weeks had generated enough questions for a lifetime, but for now there was only silence.


"No questions?" Papaderos swept the room with his eyes.


So. I asked.


"Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?"


The usual laughter followed, and people stirred to go.


Papaderos held up his hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.


"I will answer your question."


Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter.


And what he said went like this:


"When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.


"I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one. And by scratching it on a stone I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine -- in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.


"I kept the little mirror, and as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light -- truth, understanding, knowledge -- is there, and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it.


"I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world -- into the black places in the hearts of men -- and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life."


And then he took his small mirror and, holding it carefully, caught the bright rays of daylight streaming through the window and reflected them onto my face and onto my hands folded on the desk.

May each of us seek to let our Light shine upon others, not for our own glory, but to "glorify our Father which is in heaven". Go and do thou likewise during this Easter season and always!