In contrast

             In following suit with the title of my blog I thought my first post would be explanatory. Contrast is a concept I built on from a scripture found in the Book of Mormon.  "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so... righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad..." (2 Nephi 2:11). In saying opposites are needed we explain a fundamental rule of life. The letters on that page of scripture were black against the white, every spoken word breaks the silence, every piece of art is made of different shades of color, and every meaningful moment in life stands against one of an opposite nature. Contrariwise, a blank page is of no benefit to most anyone. Silence will never tell you when dinner is ready. A white canvas can't capture the Mona Lisa's smile. A life without contrast has no meaning, no shape.
             In this life we make mistakes. Things that stand as bad decisions; harmful to us; harmful to others. Sometimes seen, sometimes felt, these are dark spots against our bright natures. But, much like letters on a page or flushes of color on a painting, they shape us. They define us. The darks explain the lights we have. All our misery will give voice to what brings us joy. In this sense I have designed this blog to bear record of both the light and the dark that comes into my life, and perhaps as the complexities of my life leave their brush strokes upon these pages, and my life's portrait bears more character, it will bring a little more understanding to one of your black flourishes, or joyful whites. I will say I hope it may,  and may we cherish what we have become and what we are becoming and every slip and fall that gets us there.