The world is God’s classroom, offering all of us important lessons. We visually cycle through light and dark every 24 hours. Similarly, our spiritual and emotional lives also cycle, bringing us happiness and light in one moment or despair and darkness in another. When the sun sets, a beautiful bright vista blesses before the deep darkness of night engulfs. Likewise, God puts in place His sustaining light and brightness before the dark pulls of the world are permitted to surround us. May we be wise in recognizing the blessings God has pre-planned for our darkest hours. And may we always trust that those darkest hours will give way again to light, hope and brightness as the morning light returns.

I am grateful for my younger twin brothers. A wonderful happy birthday to both of them. They are each awesome individuals who make important contributions to their country, community and family. It is hard to imagine life without each of them.

But when they were born, our parents wanted to adopt a child and were taken to see the twins. Mom and Dad were asked which one of the twins they wanted to take home for adoption. They could not imagine taking only one of the twins and leaving the other. They said they wanted both of the them.

Hypothetically, now that we are 46 years into this adventure, which one would you have chosen if given the choice? Number one or number two?

Darin and Derik, or is it Derik and Darin?

This morning I was reading from the Book of Mormon in the second chapter of Ether. In verse 18 the Brother of Jared says, “O Lord, I have performed the work which thou hast commanded me, and I have made the barges according as thou hast directed me.” So the Lord had instructed the Brother of Jared on how to construct the barges which would allow them to cross the mighty ocean. But then in verse 19, the Brother of Jared asks, “And behold, O Lord, in them there is no light; whither shall we steer? And also we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish.” And then the Lord gives the Brother of Jared the answer to his concern about being able to breath in these water-tight barges, that he should make a hole in the top and the bottom of the barges to let in air as needed.

It struck me today that the Lord did not include the design of the holes in the top and the bottom of the barges in His original plans for the barges which the Brother of Jared had built “according as thou hast directed.” He waited until the Brother of Jared asked about the need for air before giving enlightenment to solve that problem. This makes me wonder how often we might not receive ideas nor direction on particular issues because we haven’t yet understood that we have a particular need. And the Lord may be waiting for us to come to an understanding of our real needs so that we will ask Him for help and direction about the things that really matter in our lives. And how do we come to understand our true needs? In our petitions with the Lord, we may need to break our habits of asking for help with our needs, as we understand them, and instead ask Him to show us what our true needs are.

Morning Moon