Light vs. Dark

We often hope that things can be black and white so that our choices will be easier. Many times in life things are just gray. Tonight we talked about something that is very much black and white, being reborn. Not an actual childbirth but a spiritual rebirth. Or in other words a baptism.

As we read in St. John tonight, we found out Jesus talks to Nicodemus about baptism and how baptism is the first step into gaining access to the kingdoms of God. It takes more that just baptism to get to the kingdoms of God, we do that by our works and faith and obedience in this world. When talking about how we can get to that point, Jesus talks about light vs. darkness. And how men love darkness rather than light.

We can think of the darkness in terms of acts or things that go against the words of the Lord and the light as just the opposite, those things that bring us closer to our Heavenly Father. I am just as guilty as any man of enjoying the darkness more than I should, but it is a great gift that we are given to be able to change and walk towards the light at any time, just like Alma the younger did in his time.

But I also had the thought tonight about thinking in literal terms on light vs. dark and times in the scriptures or in our lives when that happens.  Sis. Dorff brought up how we talk about childbirth as being a darkness and we come into the little when we are born. I thought about how when I was baptized I closed my eyes to go under the water and was in the darkness and when I arose out of the water I opened my eyes and it was light. Even in terms of death people often talk about walking towards a bright light which means that the person is in some sort of darkness. And having just recently read Joseph Smith's account in the sacred grove, I thought about how he was engulfed by a darkness before he saw the light and the two personages standing before him.

If I sit down and really think about it I am sure that even in my own life I could come up with a large number of instances when I have had to experience a darkness before I could reach the light. Bishop Dorff really said it best when tonight he said that in darkness there is no contrast but as the light comes, as we get closer to the Lord, we may find those dark spots and that is what we need to work on. Such great advice, and so very true.