n e w c h u r c h l i f e : j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 4
in the good which the Lord will bring
from all situations.
Preserving our covenant with the
night means we are willing to have
faith that the Lord will make a situation
right, if we just believe and then act
right without expecting to see the
result. Faith is as connected to love as
night is connected to day, but it is also
distinct, seemingly separate, and that is
why faith is imaged as “the night,” for
it can feel like a time of darkness when
we are in it.
In the deepest hour of the night, all
is still and dark for a time. How many
of us have been awake at that hour
contemplating an unresolved problem
or situation, anguishing over how
to approach a solution, or analyzing ourselves critically, sometimes without
mercy, in the light of a situation in which we are involved? But soon, the dawn
comes.
The spiritual meaning of dawn is represented by the morning, but it is not
dependent at all upon the earth rotating on its axis. It is an internal state when
we allow love to enter us slowly, sometimes as softly as the diffusion of light on
the eastern horizon.
I can illustrate this with a story of a son who was estranged from his father
since his youth. After decades of little or no communication between them,
and after the son had married and moved across the country and begun to
raise a family of his own, his father expressed a desire to visit the son and his
family one Christmas.
During their time together, the son had the occasion to watch his Dad
unobserved. He was getting old, seated by the Christmas tree and attending to
his grandchildren with such delight, care and devotion. For the first time, the
son felt something unfamiliar, completely different – he described it to me as
the first time he felt love for his Dad.
That moment was the dawn of love in their relationship, and from
that time forward their relationship changed and grew into something that
enriched both of their lives. This is what the internal dawn is like – and it takes
many different forms from individual to individual.
When we learn to love others more fully, a change is required in us – to
turn our hearts in a new direction. The turn is away from separation, isolation
Our time is truly a New
Day, a New Dawn of the
light of the doctrine
of Charity, the seed
of which the Lord is
sowing in the hearts of
all people. If we accept
the full import of the
Heavenly Doctrines,
we must accept this
hopeful vision also.
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