A couple of weeks ago in Gospel Doctrine, our talented teacher shared a talk given in 1978 by Bruce R McConkie regarding the restoration of the gospel. The talk in context was wonderful but it was the poetic opening of the talk that was the most striking to me and has laced my thoughts ever since. Here's the excerpt:
When the sun goes down and the dusk of day deepens into night, then darkness reigns. During the night, darkness is everywhere and the vision of all is dimmed; none can see afar off. Though the heavens teem with stars—an uncounted host of them—and though the moon—she who rules the night—reflects her rays of borrowed light, yet the darkness is not pierced; the blackness of the night continues.
Deep shadows hide the beasts of forest and field. Wildcats stalk their prey in silence. Packs of hunger-maddened wolves strike terror in their victims as their howling calls draw nearer and nearer. Coyotes are baying in the distance; somewhere a lion roars; and in that deepest shadow a jackal lurks, awaiting his chance to steal the slain game of another. The terrors of the night are real.
But finally a distant dawn is heralded. The morning stars shine forth more brightly than their fellows. A few rays of light part the darkness of the eastern sky, a sky still spotted with clouds. Beyond the mountains, not many leagues away, a new day is gestating in the womb of nature. As the earth turns slowly on its decreed course, the dawn brightens; the light of the morning increases; darkness flees. The stars no longer shine; the moon hides her face; their reflected glimmerings no longer pierce the blackness of the night. The sun rises. The blazing light of heaven covers the earth.
When the dawn comes and the sun shines, the doleful creatures of the night begin to retire. The lions return to their lair and the foxes to their holes; the baying of the coyotes is no longer heard; and the howling wolves are silent. The terrors that lurked in the shadows are now hidden in the rocks and in the caves.
With the new dawn the flowers in the field and the trees in the forest take on new life. The oxen in their stalls and the sheep in their cotes awake from sleep, while the fowls of heaven sing praises to the Lord of Sabaoth, to the Creator of the first day. The blessings of life and light are everywhere seen. It is a new day—a day of joy and rejoicing and light.
For me this description of the darkness precisely describes how several spans of my own history have felt like. I myself have been one of the doleful creatures crying out in terror- begging for the darkness to cease. Hope does spring eternal however, when you at last can sense the sinister blackness evaporating and the song of day piercing your darkest shadow and bathing your soul in light. Its breathtaking and wonderful to feel the shackles of the darkness fall from your shoulders. Anyway, I hope you have no idea what I'm talking about. I hope you've never felt this. But if you have, I thought that you would appreciate the above quote.
