Let the lower lights be burning

Let the lower lights be burning

I just attended the funeral of my grandson Christopher. The song that my four sons sang was “Brightly Beams Our Father’s Mercy“. There is this phrase in the song ‘let the lower lights be burning’.

Some years ago I heard a talk by Elder Boyd K. Packer who addressed this subject. The song is an allegory. The "brightly beams" refers to the lighthouse. This is a navigational point to guide sailors. It is a reference point so that people know where they are. It shines at night with an oscillating light so that the ships will have a reference to steer by and it can be seen for many miles. During the daytime most lighthouses are placed in a prominent location so they can be seen for miles. This is exactly what Our Father in Heaven does by shining his mercy out into the darkness of the world.

Most of us don’t have any trouble seeing during the daytime. We do have problems when it is dark. Think about driving a car on an unfamiliar road at night without lights on your car. Now think about trying to navigate a boat in the water at night. There is no road to guide you. If the sky is overcast you will have no reference points.

Perhaps you can see the lighthouse, but you don’t know where the rocks are and a passageway into an inlet where there is a safe harbor. This is where the lower lights come in.

We have GPS now, but in the early days we had to rely on lights.

In order to guide sailors to safety, they would place lights along the shore to indicate where to steer the ship safely.
 
We are to be the lights along the shore so to speak. It is our light that will help others to find the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ taught that we should let that light shine before men that they would see our good works and then they would glorify God by repentance and come into his kingdom.

We are to lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble knees by shining our light.

When we visited Dunraven castle, Stanley Bevan told us a story that you can read here. Dunraven castle is where our Butler ancestors came from. 

The next time you hear the song “Brightly Beams Our Father’s Mercy“ think of how you can help someone to come into the safe harbor of the mercy of our Heavenly Father. You are the light. Keep it burning bright. My light shines for you. 

Look to my light and not the lanterns on the tails of the sheep or cattle. There are plenty of Matts of the Iron Hand out there to mislead you. The Father's light shines ever so brightly. 
 
Love,
 
Grandpa

Macular degeneration and me

No one likes to discuss illnesses, let alone hear about other people’s aches and pains. 

A doctor’s life is centered around this discussion, so I hope that you will indulge me for a minute or two. The reason being, is that you belong to my gene pool. 

What I have, may come into your life as well. 

To begin with, both my parents had macular degeneration. I was naive and did not pay much attention, mainly because it was their problem and I did not know that it would affect me until later on.

One day I saw a dumbbell shaped object in my vision. I went to see Dr. Fontaine down the street. He said that I had a hemorrhage on the retina and referred me to a retinal specialist in Salt Lake who used a laser to stop the bleeding. I developed another hemorrhage in the same right eye and underwent another laser treatment. 

I was diagnosed with dry type of macular degeneration and other than losing the central vision in my right eye I have done well over the past 20+ years with only peripheral vision on the right. I have normal vision in the left eye. 

Our family was enrolled in a study at the Moran Eye Institute at my request and they found that my wife had the wet type of macular degeneration and she eventually ended up getting shots in both eyes to preserve her vision. Her vision is stable now.

We have a son who is now getting shots in his eye to preserve his vision. 

So you may end up with age related macular degeneration. 

This condition occurs in the Kerr family.

My aunt Alta had it, as well as number of her siblings and some descendants. Alta’s son George had it and his son George has the disease. 

Robert Marion Kerr and his son Robert had it as well. Robert’s brother Joseph also had the disease.

My cousin Merrill Gee has stable macular degeneration.

On the Stucki side;

My uncle Wendell Stucki had the disease as well and so far none of his children have reported being affected. 

My cousin Mary Lou had the condition. She was my aunt Evelyn’s daughter. 

My uncle Max had macular degeneration as well, but none of his three children have it. 

As you can see this appears to be a genetically inherited disease. 

So what is Grandpa’s counsel?

I have always said illness like sin is best treated early in its course. Since you don’t know if you are going to have vision problems in the future, you should check the vision using an Amsler grid.Here is the URL:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&channel=tus&q=amsler+grid

If the lines look wavy start taking PreserVison vitamins and get an appointment with a retinal specialist. 

The earlier you get intervention the better the result will be. 

You need to save both your physical and spiritual vision to see clearly.

Love,

Grandpa