Light and Shadow

My friend sent me this picture this week with the following message:

“It was a little frosty this morning, but in the sunlight, it was really beautiful. It is amazing how sunlight can turn the most ordinary thing into something extraordinarily beautiful. It made me think about how our Savior’s light can do the same thing.”

As I’ve looked at this picture this week and contemplated her message, I have had so many thoughts.

What makes this picture so compelling? it’s just grass and a leaf with frost. It’s something as her message said so ordinary.

Is it the gleam of the frost? Something pretty on a cold morning.

Is it simply she knows how to take a visually beautiful picture? Quite possible.

Is it the depth the light brings through highlight and shadow? Definitely.

I thought of how it is by design that there is light and dark. The dark helps us recognize the light. The light helps us recognize the dark.

I thought of my life. I’m coming out of a time of struggle the past few months. A time of overwhelm when I let some habits slip. A time that I didn’t comprehend as much light in my life as I had in the past. I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten back into those habits, I recognize the light of Christ more often which has helped me make more sense of the shadows in my life.

Isn’t that exactly what Christ does? He helps us find purpose in the hard, a positive aspect in the dark.

I thought of Christ. The light of the world Himself. His light is in and through all things. He took so many things throughout His life: bread, fish, water, people and made them extraordinary. It’s that what He’s always done with those that follow Him?

I thought of Abraham. This ordinary man who just wanted a good relationship with his Heavenly Father. And through his faith and diligence in bringing the light of Christ into His everyday life, he was promised that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And how blessed we have been. His life was full of light and dark times, but his faith became perfect as he chose to follow the light.

I thought of Moses. The man who described himself as slow in speech. He saw the glory of God, light that he could only describe as a burning bush. He let that light define him, a son of God – not a son of man – and it elevated him to a great leader.

That’s what the light of Christ does –

It sustains our faith.

It elevates our view.

It magnifies our efforts.

It enlightens our understanding.

It strengthens our relationships.

I thought of Peter, the Rock. I imagine he would describe himself as an ordinary fisherman – maybe not even a very good one sometimes. But as he learned and helped at the Savior’s side his efforts were magnified, and he was changed forever.

I thought of Joseph Smith, who let the light of Christ work in his life as he searched for a church to belong to. And then after “asking of God,” as he learned to do in James, gained more light then his fourteen-year-old self ever imagined.

I thought of my own relationships with others. How when I allow the light of Christ to influence how I see people – my friends, my family, my co-workers, my neighbors, the stranger in the grocery store – I have more patience, more kindness, more love for them.

The light of Christ truly makes every part of life more beautiful – we just need to take a moment to recognize it.