Let Your Light Shine

Hero came home from Primary a couple weeks ago with pictures of candles and "bushels;" they'd been discussing Matthew 5:14-15.

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14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

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Now, his teacher at church does a nice job, but you're not supposed to use candles at church, so instead of lighting a candle, they had to be content with coloring in some candles at church. I was pretty sure that my little son had paid attention, since he was able to tell me a fair amount about the lesson. I also knew that coloring can never have the impact of a real candle. So I got one out.


"Hero, what was the Lord comparing to a candle?"

"Being good."

"OK. So, being good is like a candle."

I lit a tea light, and we watched it for a minute.

"Do you know what a bushel is?"

"No."

"It's a type of basket. Normally, they're not see-through, but I want you to see what happens to the candle, so I brought this pint jar for our bushel.""

I put the jar over the candle, and we watched it for a bit to see what happened. I was surprised at how long it took for the light to go out. Hero was surprised that it went out, and Dragon was delighted by the whole process.

"What happens when you hide your goodness?"

"It goes away."

They loved the whole process, so we did it several times. The Daddy walked in on the last one, and guessed that we were doing science, which lead to conversation about how fire needs air, and when the air is used up, it goes out. As they're talking about that, I'm thinking how remarkable it is that all things really do testify of Christ. So then we talk about how we need the Lord's Spirit to help is be good, and if we don't have that because we are hiding our goodness, our light- our goodness- goes out.

At that point, Hero's attention was about used up, and so I asked him to finish clearing his place from lunch. But I kept thinking. The candle went out because, under the jar, it quickly used up the air. But it wasn't for lack of air; there's plenty in my kitchen! I thought how sin cuts us off from the Spirit- not because he won't help us, and not because he's not there, but because we are hiding under our "bushel."


Food for thought, that.