Hope’s Light: Our Savior’s Loving Gift

by Tom Mullen

In hope’s light we find our happiness, our confidence, our strength, and our active motivation. Mortality has its perils, and no one avoids darkness and discouragement.

A Sports-Lover’s Trial

Our daughter Jessica has loved sports and outdoor activities her entire life. At age 12, she required knee surgery, but she worked hard and and was soon physically active again. But knees don’t always cooperate and stay fixed. Over the last several years, Jessica has had 19 surgeries on that same knee.

Recently I was commenting on how discouraging this must be for her. When I asked her how she accepted it with such grace, she smiled and replied that because of Jesus Christ she has great hope that either in this life or the next everything will be okay.

Although Jessica would love to be out of pain and to once again be able to participate in the many physical activities she enjoys, she knows that when her hopes are are centered in Jesus Christ, she will be blessed as she needs to be. With this hope her life is richer, more confident, and more joyful than it could otherwise be.

A Gift of Hope’s Light

While Jessica could have easily become unhappy or bitter about her situation, her hope and her joy have allowed her to move forward in her life. Although she is no longer able to enjoy sports on the field, she is now bringing hope’s light to athletes in other ways. As the Director of Academics for Brigham Young University’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, she brings these athletes hope for success in the classroom, leaving their on-court success to other coaches. As Jessica helps them in their classroom efforts, she contributes hope for success extending far into their future.

Elder Dieter F. Uchrdorf portrayed hope’s light as a “brilliant dawn,” which “encourages and inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an eternal Heavenly Father, who has prepared a way for those who seek for eternal truth in a world of relativism, confusion, and of fear.” In the words of Martin Luther King, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” When I read or hear these words, I see Jessica walking past a finite athletic field to serve athletes in a more infinite way.

Mortal Messiness

The popular cliché Murphey’s Law (anything that can go wrong will go wrong) gives us a name to blame for anything we wish was not happening. And many of us use it quite often. Some difficulties are irritating, but we can handle them—with washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and plenty of sponges, dish soap, and paper towels.

Some difficulties are life-changing, such as Jessica’s knee suffering. Serious illnesses and accidents; mental and emotional crises; suffering of loved ones (including children); loss of homes, employment, opportunities, privileges—things like this happen. People worldwide are suffering from devastating storms, fires, and violence. We must seek hope in the Savior’s love and power t to maintain or bring back hope’s light.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf warned,

The adversary uses despair to bind hearts and minds in suffocating darkness. Despair drains from us all that is vibrant and joyful and leaves behind the empty remnants of what life was meant to be. Despair kills ambition, advances sickness, pollutes the soul, and deadens the heart. Despair can seem like a staircase that leads only and forever downward.

The suffocating heart and mind darkness can be terrifying. For example, the Johns Hopkins medical website warns that “triggers” like disturbing events, particular illnesses, or chronic or suddenly altered brain chemistry can cause clinical depression. For some sufferers a trigger is not apparent. Individuals experience severe and serious sadness, anxiety, and/or emptiness. They feel worthless and helpless. Death by suicide is common.

Our Savior’s Comfort

Such serious conditions require professional help. The Gospel teaches us to get what intervention is available to us, as we turn to and depend on Christ’s hope to guide and override.

Sadness does not always cause severe emotional and spiritual problems. Our family has a young friend whose father is in a coma, expected to pass through the veil within days. She and her family are devastated as they realize how much they will miss their dear father. But their hope in Christ is sustaining them. They have joy and confidence that because of Jesus Christ and His Atonement they will see him again.

As confident as I am that the sun will be in the sky each morning, despite conditions that may hide it, I am confident that on the morning of the third day after His crucifixion Jesus Christ, God’s beloved son, came back to those He had loved and saved. With this sacrifice of Atonement, I have great hope for both the earthly and eternal life. Like my daughter, Jessica, I feel hope’s light assuring me that life’s puzzles, uncertainties, fears, and miracles will work out for the  good of those I love.

As Easter approaches, my prayer is that those who follow the Savior will celebrate with awe and gratitude, and that we will choose to continue to celebrate His love and hope every day of the year.