Long Exposure
Most modern telescopes use devices called CCDs to take pictures of space and discover more about the universe. CCDs can keep absorbing any light particles streaming towards them for as long as they remain open or exposed and oriented in that particular direction. In fact, the longer the exposure, the more light that gets gathered and thus, the clearer the picture that results. When astronomers keep their telescopes fixed on a specific point for long periods of exposure, they can collect light that is far, far too faint for us to see with our natural eyes and that has been traveling through space since almost the very beginning of time. When we go forth with faith, we may stare at a fixed point and to our natural eyes, we may see only darkness. We may continue on our path of faith and still for a long time we continue to see only darkness. As far as we can tell, our efforts are completely fruitless. We are gaining nothing from the experience and all of our patience is going unrewarded. But our souls are like the CCDs in telescopes. They continue to absorb particles of light for as long as they remain open to the source of light, and though much of the light is too faint and too fine to be perceived by our natural eyes, it nevertheless is collected by our souls and begins to form a picture. It may take a long, long exposure, far longer than we believe we are able to bear, before that picture starts to make sense or be visible to our natural eyes, but if we keep our eye single to the glory of God, and continue to open our souls to collecting each and every precious particle of light, no matter how faint, we will begin to see much more clearly the picture of our Heavenly Father’s Plan for this majestic universe that He has created, and especially His plan for us specifically. We may assume that we are acting in blind faith, but all the while our souls are collecting light and when we are ready, we will be able to see as God sees, our souls having been transformed by His light, so that our thoughts become His thoughts, and our ways become His ways.
