Light and color are interesting things. When you mix colors of paint, at first they make varying shades and new colors. As you continue to add paint, the colors will get muddy and dark. When you mix colors of light, the light will shift colors and get brighter until with all colors of light, the light will be blindingly white and show everything with clarity.

When you look at sheet of white paper, you are seeing a blank slate. The absence of all color. When you walk outside in the bright light of day, you are seeing a combination of all colors. If our lives are the clean white page, what will we put there in the bright light of all color? In the presence of all light, we can better see the effect of our actions. The scriptures talk about light, truth, and knowledge together and interchangeably. They also talk about letting our light shine.

The eye adds a different dimension to this story. Light shines on an object and absorbs the color it is, reflecting all other colors, as light enters the eye and interacts with the nerves in the retina, the brain detects the missing color and reports that to the cortex as the color of the object. This is why the mixing of paint which with all colors added, absorbs all light and only darkness is reflected. A mirror on the other hand is a surface designed to reflect rather that absorb, and we can then see by it. I think of the words of the song, “Have you received his image in your countenance? Does the light of Christ shine in your eyes?”

In life, the knowledge, the truth, even the light we gain, shines in our eyes. The truth, the spirit acts as light and as more is combine, the brighter we become. Lies, errors, deceptions are the paint on the page, and the more we add, the less we can see. The knowledge (truth) we gain, the more light we have to share. It is in the sharing (reflecting light) that we can become like our Savior and our Father.