Light and Love





I was walking a kindergartner back to class this week and just as I opened the door to her classroom an announcement blared over the speakers. 

"Locked, lights, out of sight. This is a drill". 

We practice various mandated drills but this one can be especially unsettling for young children who are scared of the dark.  The teacher is new so I stepped up to assist.

We don't overly alarm them.  We just tell them we will always do everything we can to keep them safe.  We make it a game and fervently hope it will never be anything more than that. 

With the lights flipped off and the door locked we gathered the kids in one corner of the classroom.  

One little girl looked very nervous and started to tear up.

"Look at my eyes.  Do I look scared?"  I shined my phone light on my face.

"No." She took a deep breath with me and leaned her silky soft cheek against my arm. I could feel her small body relax.

"Let me see," whispered another student.  I quickly shined the light again.

"We have light.  And we will do everything we can to keep you safe."

I didn't try to argue it wasn't really that dark.  I watched their faces for the 90 second drill and quietly reassured them while keeping alert to any possible dangers.  5 seconds of light worked wonders.

Martin Luther King, Jr preached:

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness.....only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate...only love can do that." 

I certainly don't have all of the answers to driving out hate.  But I don't believe we will simply argue our way out of it.  I do think we need to increase our love including how we act on that love, and our light in studying God's word. 

Peter M Johnson of the Seventy, taught this beautiful truth:

"It is my prayer that we will recognize the confirming influence of the Holy Ghost as we come to fully understand that we are children of God. “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” states: “All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.” 

That is the kind of light we need to embrace and help shine on the darkness.

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