As I was working in the office, typing away on my keyboard, the door opened and my husband asked, "Why are you sitting in the dark?"
His question didn't make sense to me until I pulled my focus from the light of my laptop screen and realized that the once-bright office I’d begun working in, with sunlight pouring through the open windows, was in fact dark. The only light left in the room was the harsh glare of my screen.
“Want me to turn on the light?” he asked.
“Yes, please.”
And with the flick of a switch, the overhead light turned on, illuminating the office (and the eye strain I didn’t realize until that moment I’d been suffering from).
By Small and Sneaky Things
Alma the Younger taught his son Helaman the eternal truth that, “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass” (Alma 37:6). We often discuss that principle in terms of righteous things, such as how small acts of service can help us develop a great sense of love for someone.
The thing with eternal truths, however, is Satan knows them too and uses them to his advantage. Nephi warned us that Satan first leads us “by the neck with a flaxen cord until he [binds us] with his strong cords forever” (2 Nephi 26:22).
If my office had suddenly gotten dark, I would have noticed and done something about it right away. But because the transition was gradual, as slow and steady as the turning of the world, I wound up sitting in darkness, eyes sore from straining, completely unaware of the state I was in.
If I wanted to avoid winding up in spiritual darkness, I knew I needed to identify my personal flaxen cords that are pulling me little by little away from where I want to be spiritually. But as I tried to think of what little sins might be creeping into my life, I realized that the sneakiest things Satan was binding me with weren’t sins at all—they were distractions.
The Danger of Distractions
I had been too focused on the artificial light of my screen to realize the natural light was fading around me, too distracted to even realize when darkness had fully arrived. With the Spirit’s help, I’ve since realized that I have let myself become distracted by good things—such as trying to keep myself informed on political and social matters, improving my skills as a novice gardener, and researching various deals and recipes to stretch the family grocery budget further—and those distractions have kept me from doing the best things, such as purposefully and consistently ministering to the sisters in my ward, spending more quality time with my kids, and counseling with the Lord to know how He would have me spend my days.
As Elder Quentin L. Cook taught, “We are often unaware of the distractions which push us in a material direction and keep us from a Christ-centered focus. In essence, we let celestial goals get sidetracked by telestial distractions.” Sister Rebecca L. Craven likewise counseled, “It takes effort to stay focused on what is truly essential for lasting joy. Satan would love nothing more than for us to misplace our eternal values, leading us to waste precious time, talents, or spiritual strength on things that matter not.”
Because everyone’s circumstances are different, what is good vs. better vs. best can vary for each of us. The only sure way to become aware of our personal distractions is to ask God, and to do so with real intent, with a sincere willingness to make what Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf refers to as “appropriate course corrections.”
Hope for them That Sit In Darkness
Despite our best efforts, we often get distracted only to finally realize one day that we are now in some form of darkness. Perhaps attending church no longer feels like worship but merely going through the motions. Perhaps it has been so long since we’ve really connected with God in prayer that we begin to doubt if He’s even listening. Perhaps our trials are so all-consuming, that we’ve convinced ourselves God doesn’t care. Whatever darkness we find ourselves in, Satan would have us think the light is gone forever. But the light is where it’s always been, and we always have the power to return to it.
The Lord instructs His servants to “say … to them that sit in darkness: Show yourselves” (1 Nephi 21:9). I think that is such a beautiful testimony of the power we possess. Just as darkness can’t push out the light, it also can’t keep us from stepping back into it. The choice to show ourselves, to step back into the light, to refocus on Christ, to reprioritize His will over our own, to recognize his tender mercies and feel His love—that choice is always ours to make.
While our agency is a power Satan can’t take from us, the same is true of Christ. When my husband noticed I was in darkness, he didn’t turn on the light automatically. He asked if I wanted the light on and waited for me to choose. Christ truly is “the light of the world” (John 8:12), but if we want Him to be the light of our world, we have to open the door. He will knock, but He will never barge in uninvited (see Revelation 3:20).
So no matter what kind of darkness we find ourselves in, or how we came to be there, there is hope. Because “when [we] sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto [us]” (Micah 7:8, emphasis added).
All we have to do is ask.
Read more on Christ’s light in the links below:
▶ Christ’s last gift to His disciples was a form of meditation
▶ This 1 word in the Spanish version of ‘Where Can I Turn for Peace?’ may help you see Christ’s hand more often
▶ Can I be both faithful and a little fearful? What the scriptures say
▶ What true followers of Jesus do: The sacred moment in Lehi’s dream found all over scripture
