Let's switch it up a little...

Ok, so it's my turn for a good solid post. I have decided to mix it up a little - I will not rant and rave about sports, I will not share message board insights, I will not strain to write something witty or humorous. I would like to share a little experience/realization I had recently that I think we can learn a little from.

Before I share that, let me just say this - this experience has taught me that our father has a keen ability to capture moments and reflect on them; he has a unique talent to turn experiences into gospel lessons - testimony building lessons, at that. Well, if the name Richard carries any bit of that, I only hope that I can learn to capture such moments half as well as our father does. Moreso, I hope that I can learn to share those experiences in a way that will be beneficial to those who may hear it. So this will be my first attempt...

Part 1: When Erin and I very first started moving in to our apartment, one of the first things she did was put lightbulbs in all the sockets that didn't have one. You know the light fixtures in a kitchen or living room that have two or three lightbulbs, usually you can get away with only one bulb and you'll still have sufficient light for the room - this is what was done by the people who lived there before us. So Erin went through the house making sure that all the light fixtures were fully stocked with all the lightbulbs it would need, and making sure that all the lightbulbs worked properly. As she did it I thought to myself, "we could probably get away with 1 or 2 lightbulbs instead of all three in the living room..." and other such things, but it wasn't a big deal.

Part 2: Personal confession: recently I found myself getting way too uppity about having too many lights on around our house. I remembered a big push around our house once when we were all growing up, to turn lights off after we left the room, etc. and I thought to myself "this is how dad must have felt" as I tried to turn off all unnecessary lights around the apartment. Well, it was wrong of me to grumble or think, "we could do with a few less lights on in the house - we don't need the hallway light on, or both kitchen lights, etc." (sidenote: I confess that it was wrong of me to place blame/accusation on Erin in any way for something so silly as leaving a light or two on. I don't do it any more - but at that point, that's what went through my head) Then something occurred to me...

Why the heck was I complaining about Erin wanting to have MORE light around our house? Why should I have ever thought twice about putting in more lightbulbs and trying to provide as much light as possible for the most important place for our family (outside the temple and maybe the church building)?

Here is the gospel lesson my wonderful wife has helped me learn: we all know that light is VERY symbolic in the gospel, right? We hear scriptures about Christ being the Light of the world, how we should let our Light shine, and how the birth and death of Christ was marked by abundance and absence of light, respectively, in the Americas.

Well then isn't that an extremely valuable quality that we should all be striving for? To fill our lives with as much light as possible, to eliminate as much darkness as possible, and to give ourselves the opportunity to quickly illuminate our lives and the lives of others who may cross our paths. This is essentially what Erin has done for our home - she's provided us with ways to easily keep as much light as possible, and as little darkness as possible.

So I now have a stronger, growing testimony of the principle of light. May we all fill our lives and hearts with as much light as possible (which will in turn chase out the darkness) and may we help and encourage others to do the same. May the light of Christ burn brightly within us so we don't just feel as though we have "just enough light to get by" but that we can say we will always try to have "as much light as possible."