A little light seems to be creeping back into my life. When the sun rises earlier and earlier in the mornings and shines bright during the day it gets under my skin and I feel more hopeful. I feel like I could believe again in a God. I can imagine something bigger than this world, orchestrating its grandeur. Perhaps it is because spring feels a little like magic and in the past I have attributed that magic to deity. Then again, maybe it is because I take a white happy pill everyday after being forgetful the few weeks before.

Last night during family scriptures we read Moroni 7 in the Book of Mormon. In my youth that chapter contained what unlocked my understanding of how the spirit spoke to me. Paraphrased: Everything good or enticeth to do good is of Christ everything that leads away from good is of the devil. I forgot that I was left to my own judgment of what was good or bad my whole life. I have always struggled to discern the Spirit in my life. Those scriptures helped me take responsibility for what came into my life regardless of my feeling deaf to the Spirit.

My means for spiritual guidance really hasn’t changed. I still ponder something over and choose what I think leads to the greater good based on principals of growth, kindness, love and hope for a brighter day. But now I lack confidence. I doubt my judgment. I doubt my wisdom. I doubt my purpose. I doubt the brighter day exists.

I am surprised at how easy it is to carry on the same as before. I still use the same gauge for my decisions. I am doing all of the same things I did before when I believed they would strengthen me, heal me, edify me and do the same for those around me. I still believe that the results of the life I have lived and the decisions I have made have been basically good. But the why is different now.

I still live my former beliefs because I think they elicited more help than harm (not the most rave review). I do it because it surrounds me with a supportive community that wants the sames things I do. I live it because I feel the principles taught lead to greater character, success and happiness. I teach it to my children for the same reasons. I strive for it because it promises the things that I long for and hope for. I fight for it because, if it is true, it is worth the fight.

Actually, I guess the why is still about the same. The one difference is that my reasons for continuing on deal more with the present rather than fueling my understanding of life’s purpose or as a means to bring me to the brighter day after my mortal life. It has morphed the gospel into something good for the here and now instead of from the beginning to the end–because I don’t know what that means anymore.