You can make the pathway bright,
Fill the soul with heaven’s light,

If there’s sunshine in your heart;
Turning darkness into day,

As the shadows fly away,
If there’s sunshine in your heart today.

“We can turn ‘darkness into day, as the shadows fly away’ or we can leave the shadows there. How we view things is all up to us. The ‘Pathway Bright’ song emphasizes our personal power by reminding us, at least five times, ‘You can. . . ‘. . . .

“In the well-known children’s story titled The Little Engine That Could, we read about a tiny train engine, which in spite of its small size, agrees to pull a load of toys to children who live over the mountain. Motivated by a sense of mission, the engine begins the steep climb, exerting all the energy it can muster, all the while providing verbal self-motivation: “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. . . .

“The little engine could have spent all day at the bottom of the hill measuring the height of the mountain and worrying about the degree of difficulty. Instead, he simply took action.

“In a time full of cares and troubles, Nephi put his foot down: ‘I will go and do. . . ‘ and the problem was eventually solved (see 1 Nephi 3:7). . . .

“All of us have the power to push ourselves beyond our normal limits. We can transcend life’s unbidden troubles and achieve our goals. The seemingly unreachable stars really aren’t inaccessible.

“We can! If we just invite a little sunshine into our hearts. . . .

“Yes we can all decide! We can choose to sing the ‘sunshine serenade!’”