In the first devotional address of 2007 BYU-Hawaii president and Area Authority Seventy Elder Eric B. Shumway drew upon a lesson learned as a teenager from his mother to remind university students, faculty and staff that they are the "children of the light." President Shumway recalled in the January 11 address in the Cannon Activities Center whenever he came home at night that the light from his mother's reading lamp in St. John's, Arizona, signaled she was "awake and waiting, expecting a report on my evening's activities." "I remember wanting never to disappoint her and Dad.
I remember the deep sense of her love and caring," he said. "As the years have passed, that light in the window has grown in meaning and significance in my life, for it is an emblem not only of a mother's love and gospel teachings, but of God's love and His plan of happiness for you and me." "I want to touch on the idea of the light that should emanate from us, not as some intense, high-voltage beam that overwhelms, but as the soft but substantial, unmistakable glow such as the light in mother's bedroom window," President Shumway continued. "Whatever we are, wherever we are, the light that shines from us should be both the image and the works of Christ . . . that the world through us should be able to see Christ in who we are, what we say, how we work, what we do, how we teach, counsel, bless, etc." "To be like Christ, to hold him up as a light, we must love as Christ loved, not just in terms of how we feel toward others, but how we treat and esteem others regardless of how we feel," he said.
President Shumway urged the university "family" to let charity, or the "pure love of Christ" as Mormon defined it, "dominate our relationships — in our families, in the classroom, in the dorms, our employment, as well as at Church." He explained "two of the most difficult doctrines of Jesus Christ are embedded" in the related "light rays" of forgiveness and mercy. "They are contained in the simplest of mathematical formulae: Forgive = forgiveness and mercy = mercy. When we forgive others we can be forgiven. When we are merciful we shall obtain mercy." President Shumway also stressed the significance of "the light of Priesthood, the mantle of Godhood given to every worthy man in the Church with blessings and covenants of the priesthood that embrace both men and women. Among the definitions of the Priesthood, there are at least five key elements to remember, authority, power, leadership, service, brotherhood." "Priesthood is not a badge or a mere title," he continued, adding this divine power "must be used to bless and rescue the souls of men and women — through quiet, consistent, often unremembered and unthanked for acts of kindness — sweet counsel, comfort blessings, friendship, quorum service projects, home visits, and any number of human services to bless lives." "You sisters, remember that you are partakers of every priesthood power unto salvation.
If you are endowed, you put on the robes of the holy priesthood in the temple." "Another light so desperately needed in an ever darkening world is the light of chastity — sexual purity which is honoring and protecting the sacred procreative powers that constitute our human sexuality," President Shumway said. "This I testify with all the energy of my soul that sexual purity, not just abstinence from sexual relationships but cleanliness of mind and heart, is one of the most precious, treasured qualities to achieve and maintain in the world.
The law of chastity is not an arbitrary set of rules: Don't do this, you can't do that, etc. It is one of God's great laws of happiness for the benefit of his children. It constitutes His system of protection and preservation of the gift of sexual love, to be magnified and enjoyed in the only way that leads to real joy and happiness — namely within the covenants of legal and lawful marriage." President Shumway pointed out there are many other aspects of the "light," singling out three additional ones in his devotional address: "the light of the scriptures, the light of our loyalty to the leading brethren of the Church, and the light of Christ in our countenance." "When we move from prayer to reading the scriptures it doesn't always matter what scriptures we read. We just keep reading until the answers come," he said. "In the very act of immersing ourselves in scripture, we become sensitized and prepare to receive the promptings of the Spirit. The language, the tone, and especially the testimony of Jesus Christ will clear away the worldly debris that clogs the channels of revelation." "The light of loyalty, particularly in sustaining, defending, and praying for the men called as our leaders, both general and local, should shine as bright in us as any other light," he continued.
"Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's eloquent testimony in last October's General Conference of the divinity of the call of the church leaders and their goodness should burn into our bones." In conclusion, President Shumway turned to Alma's question: Have ye received His image in your countenance? "I believe that if we are in tune we will see the light and the countenance of deity in the faces of many people around us. These are people who will lift us and help us with their love and example.