Driving through the foggy mountain canyons on the way to Logan, Utah, from the Salt Lake Valley recently, I was taken back to my days of driving the same route many times over three years of schooling at Utah State University.
As I approached campus, I saw my destination — the new Logan Utah Institute of Religion building. The new building was set to be dedicated that night, Sunday, Nov. 23, by the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
When Elder Gérald Caussé arrived with his wife, Sister Valérie Caussé, they were given a tour of the new building. They saw the classrooms, the study areas, the teachers’ offices, the common areas and more in the 100,000-square-foot building. All along the way, the halls included hung paintings of gospel scenes and portraits of the Savior.
As a former institute student who attended classes in the building this replaced, I felt excitement for the current and future students who will study there.
While the building is beautiful, it is the feeling that most captured my attention. Even though the building is brand new, the feeling was as familiar as it has been throughout my life. The Holy Ghost has not changed. The same feelings I had as a student that confirmed the beautiful truths of the gospel when I took classes about the Old and New Testaments, Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph Smith’s “Lectures on Faith” and world religions were the feelings I had as I toured the new building.
Those learning experiences helped my testimony grow. They helped me as I developed greater faith in Jesus Christ and in Heavenly Father’s plan for me. They helped me better understand repentance and charity. They made learning the gospel exciting and fulfilling.
And that was reinforced by Elder Caussé when he spoke to thousands in attendance at the building’s dedication that Sunday night.
“Let your spiritual learning be driven by a sense of awe and wonder — not doubt,” he said.
The newest Apostle didn’t stop there. He continued by comparing spiritual learning to that of someone who loves to study art.
“Approach the gospel with the same reverence and joy as does a lover of art who enters a museum — someone who delights in the beauty of the masterpiece and the genius of the artist, rather than focusing on the cracks in the canvas or the dim lighting in the room,” he said.
Seeing those cracks or the poor lighting is one thing. Focusing on them is different. In my life, I have found that the things I focus on get bigger and take up more space in my mind. Sadly, if I am focused on negative events of the world or sad experiences of mortal life, darkness can quickly creep in where light once shined bright.
So, I was grateful to hear Elder Caussé counsel his listeners at the institute when he gave them the antidote for that creeping darkness — Jesus Christ.
“As we come to know Him more fully and follow His gospel, darkness fades and our lives fill with everlasting joy.”
I know that no matter the stage of life, Elder Caussé’s counsel is true. Darkness fades when we draw closer to the Savior, when we emulate the Savior, when we learn about the Savior. And as that darkness fades, joy takes its place.
In Doctrine and Covenants 11:11, the Lord says, “I am the light which shineth in darkness.”
Two verses later, He says He will give us the Holy Ghost to help us move forward with that sense of “awe and wonder” that Elder Caussé spoke of.
“I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy,” the Lord said in Doctrine and Covenants 11:13.
I’m grateful for Elder Caussé’s testimony as a special witness of the name of Christ (see Doctrine and Covenants 107:23) that we can be filled with light and joy through the Savior as we study Him and His gospel.
— Jon Ryan Jensen is editor of the Church News.
Jon Ryan Jensen: Beyond the fog, light and joy replace darkness – Church News
