A Light in Darkness

We had been in the cave before. We had been part of a tour with hundreds of middle school students, accompanied by many adult chaperones, and led by a professional who knew and understood the layout of the cave, the dangers, and the risks. Now as a group of about seven 11-12-year-olds, we were excited to return to the fun and excitement we had felt.

Since we knew what we were doing, we skipped the cautions of the chaperoned trip and added some thrills of our own. We knew how to deal with cave darkness—we thought.

Cautions for Others

When we got to the entrance of the cave, we immediately noticed that bars had been placed in front of it, closing it off from the public, along with a sign telling us that the cave was closed. We also immediately noticed that the spaces between the bars were wide enough that we could still slide through. It didn’t take us long to get everything we thought we needed and to slide through the bars to start our adventure.

On our supervised trip into the cave, we were all given very bright flashlights so we could see in  darkness and helmets to protect our heads. But we were grass roots explorers. Instead of taking flashlights, we decided to make torches to guide us in darkness—not a choice born of wisdom!

In Darkness

As we entered this cave, beyond 4 or 5 feet inside we were in darkness—pitch black. Our hand-made torches lit the way, allowing us to get deeper into the darkness. Then we got to the part where we had to crawl and slide on our bellies.

As the torches started to wane a bit, the space to operate them closed in on us. As the space closed in, so did my courage. We reached a space where our belly crawl had to be forward only, single file.As we were in this vulnerable position, our torches began to go out one by one. We were left totally in darkness.

In our single file line, we were stuck. We were afraid to move forward, as we could see nothing. We were afraid to move backward because we could see nothing. We were just stuck in darkness, and we started to panic.

Out of Darkness

I told everyone to shimmy backwards so that we could return to the somewhat open space where we had been before we had had to drop down.

As we got into that space, someone said that we should pray. So we bowed our heads in darkness, and one of us offered up one of the most sincere and simple prayers I had ever heard.

After the prayer, we realized that we must move. No one was likely to come looking for us in that cave. Now we were moving totally in darkness. Our torches were out. However, we moved forward with faith and hope from our prayer.

I felt that God had heard our prayer and that He would take care of us. As we continued to move forward, we eventually made our way past many off-shoots and found the entrance of the cave. I was so grateful for God’s intervention, and for this experience with the power of prayer.

And since that time in darkness,  I have had a love and respect for light that I had never had before.

Lessons in Darkness

We encounter many different challenges in our lives. In this misadventure, we could have avoided the danger easily if we had heeded the signs and warnings that we saw at the entrance of the cave. We would have been safer if we had been properly equipped to deal with the dangers of darkness and difficult terrain in the cave. We could have found the tools, but we opted for what we thought was the more exciting way.

Whether we are in darkness that is self-inflicted or darkness that comes other ways into our lives, we must remember that light is the only cure for darkness, as darkness cannot co-exist with light.

Remember the words of the Savior: “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be filled with light. But . . . if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness”( Matthew 6:22). A group of overconfident young boys learned that day in the cave just how great that darkness can be.

When we make Christ the center of our lives, we are preparing ourselves to overcome darkness that may threaten us. Christ is the light that will lead us out of and away from any darkness.

As we turned our hearts and souls to Christ in the center of darkness inside that cave, He led us out. We followed Him. I know He will lead us out of any darkness that we find ourselves in today. We must allow Him to lead us. As we follow He, we can also be a light to others who are struggling in darkness.Christ is and always will be the light in our lives, leading us to eternal light in His presence.