Valiant as a Lightbulb

Knowing that I'm one of the leaders of a bunch of 11-year-olds who call themselves the Valiant Knights, and knowing that I try to see myself as a Paladin, who are known for their valiance and courage, my mom, in parting, advised me to "be valiant." One of my brothers, being random, added "as a lightbulb." Mom ask him in what ways a lightbulb could be valiant, and I accepted the challenge to answer that question for him.

At first, I thought that blogging about lightbulbs would be easy. I could just borrow a few lines from Elder Bednar's message on Revelation, add a few lines of my own, and I'd be done. But being suddenly given a clear message through revelation, which is a rare occurrence, by the way, has nothing to do with being valiant.

Because I wanted to tell my 11-year-old Scouts what it meant to be a Valiant Knight, I looked up the definition of "valiant," and was slightly depressed by its linearity. (Side note: How is it that Spell-check is okay with "linearity," but doesn't like my spelling of "lightbulbs"? How else would you pluralize "lightbulb," which it doesn't think I misspelled?)

Dictionary.search.yahoo.com defines Valiant as "Possessing or exhibiting valor; brave," and defines Valor as "Courage and boldness, as in battle; bravery." (Another side note: I love that the first example of valiant this dictionary gives is "a valiant knight.") So valiance is, uninterestingly, a synonym for bravery. What's so brave about a lightbulb?

Lightbulbs are best known for using electricity to generate light. They're also known for being fragile. Lightbulbs are hollow and made mostly of a thin sheet of glass. If you struck a lightbulb with sufficient force to say that you had struck it and not merely tapped it, it would likely shatter. It is perhaps in response to this vulnerability that lightbulbs show their courage. Lightbulbs are often encased in something that diffuses the light and offers some protection to the lightbulb, but even without such protection, a lightbulb will shine boldly. In fact, a lightbulb without such protection shines brighter than the others, as if to say "If you want to take a swing at a lightbulb, here I am! I'm right out here in the open, shining as bright as day. I'm not hiding. Take your shot."

Okay, maybe they're not that suicidal, but they're not shy. Lightbulbs, despite their weakness, don't try to hide themselves or their weakness from others. They stand boldly and brightly, shining their light for all the world to see. It sounds to me like they've got a testimony and they're not afraid to share it.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

Matthew 5: 14-16

Putting a candle under a bushel is like putting a lightbulb in a lampshade. It'll make the light seem less harsh, and it may protect the lightbulb from a glancing blow, but it also weakens the light and makes it less clear. It's true that we should be kind and sensitive to the feelings and beliefs of others, but we should still be bold in declaring ours. By trying to be non-offensive and politically correct, we hold back many of the truths that may resonate in our friends' hearts - truths that they remember from before they were born.

Not all people have kind opinions about Mormons, and I have to admit that we are pretty different from other Christians. We're so different, in fact, that some people believe that we're not Christian at all. Some people doubt Joseph Smith's honesty or the Book of Mormon's validity. Some people know our church's history or doctrine too well, and at the same time not well enough. Such people might take a swing at us once they find out who we are. That lampshade is starting to sound pretty good to me. Hiding behind the guise of being "Christian, and let's just leave it at that," may protect us from the attacks of others, but it also prevents us from sharing our light with them. Admitting that we're members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints takes the courage of a lightbulb, but it's the only way to "let [our] light so shine."

But let's say our light is limited. Most people's lights are. Let's say our testimonies aren't as strong as they ought to be, or that we don't know Mormon doctrine as well as we'd like to. Let's consider another use of the word Valiant and again consider the example of the lightbulb.

Because of energy-saving practices and regulations, lightbulbs have all but been replaced by florescent bulbs, which produce just as much light (once they finally get warmed up), and use less energy. However, there is one advantage that old lightbulbs have over most new, florescent bulbs: they're dimmable. (I know that, just a few paragraphs ago, I implied that dimming the light is a bad thing, but bear with me.) Lightbulbs generate as much light as they can with whatever amount of electricity they have access to. If they can, they'll shine brightly. If they don't have quite enough energy for that, they'll just shine as brightly as they can.

Not all of us have strong testimonies or eloquent arguments in favor of our beliefs, but that's okay. We all have at least some light in us, and it's our responsibility to share as much light as we have. Another way to say it is that even though our and a lightbulb's capabilities may be limited, we should each make a valiant effort and do as much good as we can.

By shining brightly despite their weaknesses and limitations, lightbulbs prove themselves to be surprisingly valiant, and we should follow their example. We should each try to let our light shine before the world by striving to be as valiant as a lightbulb.