The Sun affects us in two extremely powerful ways. The first is through light. The light from the sun is the source of virtually all illumination and energy and power in our lives. The second is through gravity. Because of the unseen influence of the Sun’s gravity, the Earth maintains a perfect orbit, not too hot and not too cold. Without the gravity of the sun anchoring us, we would be a lifeless, frozen chunk floating through the void. The Sun’s light and the Sun’s gravity are both important for our survival. Hope has a similar effect in our lives. It has both a brightness and a gravity. “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.”(2 Nephi 31:20). Just like the Sun brings light and warmth and life to the Earth, hope brings such gifts to each of us as well. The brightness of hope is the expectation that good things lie just around the corner. The brightness of hope gives us the light we need to walk with confidence towards joy and serenity. But not all hope shines brightly. “Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.” (Ether 12:4). Just as the Sun is an anchor to the Earth, hope is an anchor to our souls. Whether we like it or not, we are caught in the gravitational pull of our Hope in Jesus Christ and His Salvation. The hope that shines forth may brighten our days and blaze forth in the summers of our lives, and perhaps even be glimpsed through the reflected light of the moon or the telltale lessening of the blackness of night that heralds the oncoming dawn, but the hope that anchors our soul is with us in the cold of winter and the dead of night. The hope that anchors us assures us that even if we “should be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon [us]; if [we] be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against [us]; if fierce winds become [our] enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after [us],” (D&C 122:8) yet still will our souls be securely locked into orbit around the Only Begotten Son of our Heavenly Father. When we are groping blindly in the dark, it is easy to believe that we have lost all hope, but in such circumstances we have only been cut off temporarily from the brightness of hope. Even in utter darkness, we still have the invisible, gravitational anchor of hope. We still have the hope that “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalms 30:5). If we will follow the orbital trajectory that our Savior Jesus Christ has laid out for us, our path will take us through day and night, summer and winter, pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow. Hope will anchor us at the exact distance we need to be - close enough to feel God’s warmth, but far enough away for us to not only walk by faith but also to avoid burning up in the fervent heat of our Father’s glory in our impure and imperfect state. We may feel bitter or resentful when we must rely solely on the hope that anchors and not have access to the brightness of hope. We may feel that it would be better if we could walk always in the light, and that when we are stuck cowering in fear or exhausted beyond our strength in the utter darkness, that we are somehow failing to live up to our potential or to make any progress. But the truth of the matter is that the Earth travels about 67,000 miles per hour. Whether we are sprinting flat out or curled up in a ball, we’re basically all still traveling through space at about the same speed. I hope that we will all come to embrace and value all aspects of hope - the hope that shines forth and the hope that anchors our souls to Christ.
