Book of Mormon Reading: 3 Nephi 8-10

"He is coming! He is coming!"

I am sure that is what was in the minds of the faithful and those less wicked who remained after three hours of quaking earth and lightenings and thunderings and winds and storms. And after three days and nights of complete darkness.

A complete opposition to what had happened when the sign was given of the Savior's birth.

Complete. Darkness.

This has made me think that without Christ, there could be no light.

Or rather, without Christ, there would be no light.

But Christ is.

And there is light.

Even in the beginning, "God said, let there be light, and there was light."

Because Christ was in the beginning, with the Father, from before the foundations of the world.

#LightTheWorld

Family Home Evening - The Light of Christ

We watched this video for Family Home Evening.

In fact, we watched it twice.

The first time was just to watch.

The second time we watched it with the intention of taking notes about what we felt and what we learned so we could share it with each other.

And while we shared, I was very impressed with what our children were taught- even down to the six year old!

Here is just a snippet of what I learned from this short video:

* Light > Darkness
* Light = warmth
* Darkness = coolness/cold
* Darkness CANNOT overrule Light, for even a pinprick of light will dispell darkness
* Yielding to the Light of Christ = more and more brightness
* Not yielding to the Light of Christ = dimmer light, even to the extinguishing of it

Alma the Younger's experience found in Alma 36 is an excellent example of how the tiniest of light, even his remembering that his father prophesied of Jesus Christ opened Alma's mind and heart to more light.

For when Alma's mind caught a hold of that memory, he cries within his heart "O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy upon me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death."

And that when Light fills him with the SAME amount of joy that was as exceeding as his pain.

I also thought about the death of the Savior.

The very Light of the World was taken. And for at least for three days the earth was covered in a vapor of darkness. Light could not be seen.

But darkness CANNOT overrule Light.

And three days later, not only did Light return, but He also brought forth the morning of the glorious resurrection. The assurance that death is NOT the end and that the darkness of the grave will have no victory.

Tidbit Tuesday - Light and Darkness

Darkness is not the absence of light.

It is a source of light.
* * *
"Light and Truth forsake the evil one"
Doctrine and Covenants 93:37

All Ye That Labor and are Heavy Laden

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;

for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matt. 11:28-30

* Everyone labors.  One of the consequences given to Adam after being cast out of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:14-19) was that he and his posterity would labor for "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground."

* Everyone bears some type of burden.  While some of those burdens are self-inflicted, many are not.

* The Savior invites those who labor and those who have burdens (which means everyone) to "Come Unto Me." 

* Coming Unto Him requires that I:

          1. Take His yoke upon me. Taking His yoke upon me = Taking His name upon me.  This is a covenant.

          2. Learn of Him.  Learning of Him = Keeping His commandments

          3. Making and keeping covenants helps me to understand the Savior's heart, which is MEEK and LOWLY.  It is through Him that I will find rest to my soul and learn from experience that His yoke is easier that what I can do alone.  I yoke myself with Him each Sunday as I partake of the sacrament.

* His burden is light.  Light dispells darkness.  And it is His "light which shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not" (Doctrine and Covenants 34:2).