In the pre-dawn on the second day of dedication sessions for the new Draper Utah Temple, a couple was driving through a quiet, residential area of Draper with their two oldest sons. The temple was their destination, where they would attend the first session of the day.

"It's scary to be out this time of day, because it's so dark," the younger boy, 8, commented.

Seeing a teaching opportunity, the father pointed to the temple on the mountainside in the distance, illuminated with bright floodlights, a sharp contrast to the darkness of the surrounding landscape.

"Does it make you feel more comfortable to see the temple up there, shining through the darkness?"

The boy responded that it did.

"In the years to come, we should always remember this moment," the father said.

"If we ever feel frightened or worried or lonely, if we ever encounter times of hardship or adversity, we should think about seeing the temple on this occasion. If you ever have occasion to doubt that God lives, that He loves you, that the Savior's gospel is true, or that we can be together again with our loved ones after death, think about the temple and what you have learned that it represents. Remember this day and what you will experience and feel during the dedication session today. I promise you it will bring assurance to you, just as seeing the temple up there on the mountain is bringing comfort to us right now."

Wise servants of God have drawn a similar analogy in the past.

"If you have seen one of the temples at night, fully lighted, you know what an impressive sight that can be," wrote President Boyd K. Packer. "The house of the Lord, bathed in light, standing out in the darkness, becomes symbolic of the power and the inspiration of the gospel of Jesus Christ standing as a beacon in a world that sinks ever further into spiritual darkness" ("The Holy Temple," pamphlet, 1982, p. 7).

Indeed, the temple symbolically reflects the light of the Savior Himself. As the psalmist wrote, "In thy light we shall see light" (Psalms 36:9).

The Prophet Micah expressed this assurance: "When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me" (Micah 7:8).

The apostle John described Christ as a light that "shineth in the darkness," (John 1:5) a phrase used by the Savior Himself early in this gospel dispensation, when He declared through the Prophet Joseph Smith. "I am the light which shineth in the darkness" (Doctrine and Covenants 6:21). Further, He characterized Himself as "a light which cannot be hid in darkness" (Doctrine and Covenants 14:9).

Temples in the Church, beautiful by day and luminous by night, are a message to the world of the gospel truth that we have to share as covenant people of the Lord, reminiscent of the Lord's admonition, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

"Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

"Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16).

President Howard W. Hunter spoke and wrote eloquently about the temple as a symbol of the light and goodness that should pervade our lives.

"Let us truly be a temple-attending and a temple-loving people," he said. "We should hasten to the temple as frequently, yet prudently, as our personal circumstances allow. We should go not only for our kindred dead but also for the personal blessing of temple worship, for the sanctity and safety that are within those hallowed and consecrated walls. As we attend the temple, we learn more richly and deeply the purpose of life and the significance of the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us make the temple, with temple worship and temple covenants and temple marriage, our ultimate earthly goal and the supreme mortal experience."

He admonished parents: "Let us share with our children the spiritual feelings we have in the temple. And let us teach them more earnestly and more comfortably the things we can appropriately say about the purposes of the house of the Lord. Keep a picture of a temple in your home that your children may see it. Teach them about the purposes of the house of the Lord. Have them plan from their earliest years to go there and to remain worthy of that blessing" ("A Temple-Motivated People," President Howard W. Hunter, Ensign, Feb. 1995).

If we do so, the temple, like the Lord Himself, can always be a light shining in the darkness.