I am a firm believer that although life is not easy, it is good. Yes, life is good. Trials and heartache may abound in various times and seasons of life, and for some may dominate, nevertheless there is good in life that overwhelms the evil, like light in darkness. To witness the overcoming of darkness, we must keep our eyes and hearts open, and be anxiously engaged in magnifying that light for all to see.

I recently visited a city known for bright lights, but in this case the lights reveal and even revel in darkness. Once witnessed, the light of Christ cannot be mistaken for the counterfeit flashing lights of evil, for between the flashes lurks darkness in plain sight. The sweet and praising songs of saints are never confused with deafening and debasing noise of thumping, loud laughter and clanging bells and chirping whistles. The light of Christ illuminates the heart and mind to uplift and bring peace. The counterfeit debases the man to drunkenness, irreverence, wasteful squandering, descending into the lusts of the flesh, like gathering in a great and spacious building, the pride of the world, filled with blinding lights, yet only providing darkness to the soul.

The light of the Lord does not blind, it illuminates. The presence of God does not cause anxiety, it brings peace. The song of the Savior does not deafen, but provides sweet music to the ears, it saves. Yes, life is good, but you have to look for it, look to Him.

In the scriptures we read, “Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27-28). The power to do good is within us, granted with our agency, and therefore so is light, His light, that we might share with all by our anxious engagement to do good.

As it has been said, it will not always be easy. At times it will be excruciatingly hard, but with our trials will come greater strength and vision to continue onward and upward. As Linda S. Reeves, a former member of the Relief Society General Presidency, taught, “The Lord allows us to be tried and tested, sometimes to our maximum capacity. We have seen the lives of loved ones—and maybe our own—figuratively burned to the ground and have wondered why a loving and caring Heavenly Father would allow such things to happen. But He does not leave us in the ashes; He stands with open arms, eagerly inviting us to come to Him. …He is eager to help us, to comfort us, and to ease our pain as we rely on the power of the Atonement and honor our covenants. The trials and tribulation that we experience may be the very things that guide us to come unto Him and cling to our covenants so that we might return to His presence and receive all that the Father hath.”

Staying anxiously engaged in good works throughout the trials of life will be the very acts that keep our eyes from being blinded and our ears from being deafened, by the evil counterfeits of the light and music the Lord has provided. The Savior has promised glory and blessings following tribulation, happiness beyond our vision to see. As He has spoken, “For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven. Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. For after much tribulation come the blessings” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:2-4).

May we see the good of life, be the good life, by being anxiously engaged in doing good, overcoming our trials by walking in the light of the Lord. May our eyes be filled with celestial illumination, and our ears with the pleasing sounds of angelic choirs, guiding our way up the path to our heavenly home, that shining beacon on the hill, that blinds no man, but blesses with eternal light and life, even the Savior Jesus Christ. In His name I pray, amen.