"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble."
Proverbs 4:18-19
I really, really like the idea of the "perfect day," and I was thinking about a similar verse (D&C 50:24) last night. I guess, previously, I thought of the perfect day more as being when Christ returns or the day everyone is resurrected to begin the Millennium, but reading this today in Proverbs got me thinking that this is really the idea of life. To drink in the light, to excise the darkness... to keep working at that and working at that, becoming lighter and better, banishing more and more darkness from our lives, until one day... we're perfect. :) And how amazing it will be to get to our individual perfect day. :) Maybe it will be far beyond the bounds of this lifetime, but still so worth working towards. This life is the beginning that can put us on that path. :)
I think the verse that talks about the wicked is also about us. Sin and error are darkness... that is what it feels like. It's confusing and frightening, and exciting sometimes too, but more in a horror movie way, as we watch ourselves entering the haunted house, or getting into the stranger's car, and all the other things that the audience knows are going to doom us. We are uncertain when we're in darkness, and we wonder why we keep falling down and hurting ourselves. It's hard to even remember what it was like to stand in the light.
Maybe it seems simplistic to just talk about darkness and light instead of the complex choices that we all face every day. I think though, that on some level that it *is* this simple, if we stop trying to justify. At some point when we make a choice to sin, it is a very clear choice, and we know what we are doing. And we pile darkness on after that because we want to hide our guilt even from ourselves. And of course, it then becomes confusing and complex and we get ourselves into no-win scenarios all the time. No matter what we do, it will hurt. But if we hurt our eyes by turning on the light, then often, even though it can be extremely painful to see what we've done to our lives under a spotlight, we can at least find a less-painful way back home. The pain of continuing in the darkness can end up much worse.
Today, whether we're standing in the darkness or in the light, let's walk in the right direction: towards God, who can give us a glimpse of daylight even in the darkest of pits. Let's start down the path to the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble."
Proverbs 4:18-19
I really, really like the idea of the "perfect day," and I was thinking about a similar verse (D&C 50:24) last night. I guess, previously, I thought of the perfect day more as being when Christ returns or the day everyone is resurrected to begin the Millennium, but reading this today in Proverbs got me thinking that this is really the idea of life. To drink in the light, to excise the darkness... to keep working at that and working at that, becoming lighter and better, banishing more and more darkness from our lives, until one day... we're perfect. :) And how amazing it will be to get to our individual perfect day. :) Maybe it will be far beyond the bounds of this lifetime, but still so worth working towards. This life is the beginning that can put us on that path. :)
I think the verse that talks about the wicked is also about us. Sin and error are darkness... that is what it feels like. It's confusing and frightening, and exciting sometimes too, but more in a horror movie way, as we watch ourselves entering the haunted house, or getting into the stranger's car, and all the other things that the audience knows are going to doom us. We are uncertain when we're in darkness, and we wonder why we keep falling down and hurting ourselves. It's hard to even remember what it was like to stand in the light.
Maybe it seems simplistic to just talk about darkness and light instead of the complex choices that we all face every day. I think though, that on some level that it *is* this simple, if we stop trying to justify. At some point when we make a choice to sin, it is a very clear choice, and we know what we are doing. And we pile darkness on after that because we want to hide our guilt even from ourselves. And of course, it then becomes confusing and complex and we get ourselves into no-win scenarios all the time. No matter what we do, it will hurt. But if we hurt our eyes by turning on the light, then often, even though it can be extremely painful to see what we've done to our lives under a spotlight, we can at least find a less-painful way back home. The pain of continuing in the darkness can end up much worse.
Today, whether we're standing in the darkness or in the light, let's walk in the right direction: towards God, who can give us a glimpse of daylight even in the darkest of pits. Let's start down the path to the perfect day.
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