To Generate Spiritual Light

In April 2002, Elder Robert D. Hales gave a talk entitled Out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light, in which Elder Hales shared the following story:

"When I was a boy, I used to ride my bicycle home from basketball practice at night. I would connect a small pear-shaped generator to my bicycle tire. Then as I pedaled, the tire would turn a tiny rotor, which produced electricity and emitted a single, welcome beam of light. It was a simple but effective mechanism. But I had to pedal to make it work! I learned quickly that if I stopped pedaling my bicycle, the light would go out. I also learned that when I was 'anxiously engaged' in pedaling, the light would become brighter and the darkness in front of me would be dispelled."

I'm discovering that it's not enough to simply choose light over darkness, you also have to constantly generate light, or you'll be engulfed in darkness. I've chosen the side of righteousness, but simply deciding is not enough. The forces of darkness are still working against me. To repel the darkness, I need to constantly generate spiritual light.

"The generation of spiritual light comes from daily spiritual pedaling." Elder Hales continued, "It comes from praying, studying the scriptures, fasting, and serving—from living the gospel and obeying the commandments."

"Sometimes people ask, 'Why do I have to go to sacrament meeting?' or 'Why do I have to live the Word of Wisdom, pay tithing? Why can’t I have one foot in Babylon?' May I tell you why? Because spiritual pedaling takes both feet. Unless you are fully engaged in living the gospel—living it with all of your 'heart, might, mind and strength' —you cannot generate enough spiritual light to push back the darkness."

In light of this, I've been trying to make some changes in my life, so I can more fully devote myself to spiritually pedaling with both feet. Part of that has been studying the gospel more. Every morning, I listen to at least one talk from General Conference, and yesterday, I was encouraged to share what I learn.

I can't remember everything I've learned since I've started this morning ritual, and some of it is too personal to share anyway, but from now on, the plan is to post a few new insights online every day, partly so I can remember them, and partly so you all can learn from them, too. I can't guarantee that I'll be faithful in posting daily (this blog has been anything but regular since I came home), but I'll do my best.

I hope that thought on spiritual pedaling and generating light will be able to help some of you. It helps me to remember that there's still a spiritual war going on here. Our souls are under attack. If we grow casual in our worship, our light will start to dim, putting us at great spiritual risk.

Today is the first day of March, and as some of you may know, the month of March was named after Mars, the Roman God of war. In ages past, the Romans used to pray to Mars for victory in their many battles. Now, I don't worship the same way the Romans did, but I fully believe that there is a God in heaven and He can have a great influence on the war for my soul. I pray for His strength and for victory. And I pray for protection and happiness for you as well. May God be with you and may you also win this war.