Thomas Edison is a man remembered for many of the conveniences we now enjoy. His work on the phonograph, motion picture cameras, the microphone and the telephone receiver are all to be well remembered, but his work on the electric light bulb is what we remember him for the most. There were more than 3,000 different theories explored as Edison tried to perfect the light bulb. He is quoted, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

As I have been pondering his life and work, I have learned some important truths that can be applied to better my own life. I have learned that work will win, and if I want to see things happen in my life, I need to be the one to make them happen. I don’t believe in bail-outs. I think we need to get up when we fall, learn the lesson taught, and work hard not to make the same mistake twice.

Edison reflected on his work of the light bulb: “The electric light has caused me the greatest amount of study and has required the most elaborate experiments. I was never myself discouraged, or inclined to be hopeless of success, I cannot say the same for all my associates.”

Often times, I have prayed for specific things for which the Lord has answered “Not yet” or even “No.” The Lord can see things we cannot see. He knows things we do not know, and he knows what experiences we need to learn in order for us to return to Him.

When my son was small, we noticed he had a challenge in learning the English language. He was a slow talker and would get frustrated as a toddler when I did not understand what he was trying to communicate. As he grew and started school, we realized that he would struggle in learning to read and many other parts of school. I worked with my son every day after school. I found a tutor for him and enrolled him in a special learning techniques program. We would get up early and work on skills and then again when he got home on homework and reading. With all of this effort, the results were slow and sometimes almost obsolete. We would get discouraged.

One time when we were feeling particularly discouraged, we asked my husband to give my son a blessing. I learned an important lesson as that blessing was given. This is a challenge my son needs in order to return to his Heavenly Father. I looked at this experience with new light. Because my son was born with a large amount of determination, we continued to work at this challenge. But we didn’t expect immediate results or to have the challenge magically disappear. It was ours, given to us by a loving Father in Heaven who knew what we needed.

This work has been rewarded with a young man who knows how to work, is not afraid to try hard things, is very successful in school, and has a compassion for others who have faced challenges in their own lives. I think God knew what He was doing. I couldn’t have raised such a fine son without His help.

Thomas Edison never considered his failed experiments as failures. He regarded them as steps in a long process. But late in his life something happened to Thomas that would have defeated a lesser man. Thomas Edison’s son Charles (one time governor of New Jersey) tells the story.

On the night of Dec. 9, 1914, Edison Industries was virtually destroyed by fire. Edison lost $2 million that night and much of his life’s work went up in flames. He was insured for only $238,000, because the buildings had been made of concrete, at that time thought to be fireproof.

Charles was 24 and Thomas was 67. The young man ran about frantically, trying to find his father. Finally he came upon him, standing near the fire, his face ruddy in the glow, his white hair blown by the December winds.

“My heart ached for him,” Charles said. “He was 67 — no longer a young man — and everything was going up in flames. He spotted me. ‘Charles,’ he shouted, ‘where’s your mother?’ ‘I don’t know Dad.’ I said. ‘Find her. Bring her here. She will never see anything like this again as long as she lives.’”

The next morning, walking about the charred embers of all his hopes and dreams, Thomas said, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.” Three weeks after the disaster his firm delivered the first phonograph.

“Now that’s a story of a man who had learned how to face the adversities and disasters of this human existence. He also knew that 67 years were in the past… that the loss of money was nothing really, because there was that inner strength that would allow him to build again,” Charles concluded.

Thomas Edison was a person with positive attitude. He saw that life is a constant struggle. You have a choice to look at both sides, both the good and the bad, and he always looked at the brighter side.

President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008) put it this way, “Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration; most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey… delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas, and a thrilling burst of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”

Lenna Lambert lives in Grantsville where she serves in the Primary — the children’s organization for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is the mother of six children.