Lighting of different places, as well as the creation of the lights for the world have been something that I have enjoyed thinking about for many years. It is interesting to me that when a light is dimmed, the dimness of it is easy to note, but as time continues, it does not seem so dim any more. It is only when you contrast the current light against something brighter that you realize how dark it really is.

It is like when you are outside playing when you are little and your mom calls you in telling you it has gotten dark. Because it darkened slowly, you haven’t realized how dark it has gotten until you go inside where the lights are turned on and then look back outside. It is that contrast that shows the difference between light and darkness.

On my mission I hit a point where I wondered if I was progressing or not. I really struggled with that and my mission president shared with me about the gradual darkening at the end of the day. It is also the same at the beginning of the day with the gradual rising of the sun. When I was given a new companion to train, I was able to look at who I had been more clearly and see how far I had come. I can look at several people in my life who I feel have been placed there to show me who I was so I can more clearly see how far I’ve come, and so I can help them to continue to progress because I have been there.

Lately I have been thinking about the stars. I love the stars, they have always fascinated me. I have wondered about the purpose of their creation. It is more fun to wonder about their purpose than the purpose of mosquitoes or fleas or things of that nature. They help us to tell the times and seasons of things as they move across the sky of course. I have often thought that the stars were created to inspire our imagination and wonder. I have also noticed that the Polar Star in particular has been used as a symbol by President Hinckley for faith, the gospel, and the Savior.

The stars can also be used for other lessons and symbols as well. While I was finishing my book about the Fall (The Savior and the Serpent), I read the statement that the stars shine all the time, but it is only when it is dark that we see them. And that got me thinking about the symbols of light and darkness and to expand on thoughts I have already pondered on that subject.

There were two lights created, one to rule the day, and one to rule the night, so there is light even in the darkness of our lives. The moon takes its light from the sun. It has not light of it’s own but can only reflect light from elsewhere. Along those lines, I have thought that we need to be the light for others by reflecting the light from the Son as well.

As I was thinking about that line about the stars only being visible in the dark, my thoughts turned to my glow-in-the-dark stars. It felt a bit strange to think about glow-in-the-dark stars where I was, but you take the inspiration you are given and run with it. My stars do not have any light of their own; they get light from another source. That’s different from the stars in the sky, but seemed to fit more with where my inspiration was going. The light they can shine with, for how long and how bright, is determined by their source of light and how long they were exposed to it. If they are exposed to a brighter light and for a longer time, they will shine brighter and longer. In our lives we need to make sure we are exposed to as much strong light for as long as we can, take every opportunity and chance we have to become stronger in the gospel because we never know how long we will have that light and when the trials and darkness will come. We need to make sure we will be able to shine through the darkness.

You cannot take the glow from one star and give it to another. Just as in the story of the Ten Virgins, one person could not give oil to another; they needed to have their own. But a star cannot light the sky by itself. So while it cannot give light to others, it needs the others to create the most light. We need to encourage others to store light/oil as well. That way when there are a lot of stars together they can provide light.

Some of the stars in my house where placed in specific places for a reason, near light switches, near door frames and corners, so that I could find those things in the dark. We can be a light for others as they are searching for guides in the dark, but there are also guides placed for us in the dark, and they will work as well as we have charged them. If you are strong in your prayer and scripture study, they will be a bigger help when you have trials than they would be if you were not. If you are in the habit of going to the temple, that habit will guide you when you have trials.