Thoughts on Christmas

I spent the day before Christmas Eve in bed. All day. I was sick with a wracking cough, pink eye, sore throat and what seemed like three other diseases. But honestly, lying in bed all day instead of baking and playing with neices and nephews like I would have done made me think.  I thought how Jesus Christ has felt everything I've ever felt. I thought how if I died in bed right then it would be ok, because I will live again because Jesus Christ conquered death. And, because of Him and His priesthood my family can be together forever. Because of him there is hope in life.

"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

John 16:33

I also thought about how 263 days ago I was in Bethlehem where the greatest gift mankind could ever receive was given to us. What greater gift could we ever ask for than the gift of that precious baby who would choose to suffer so we can live? Think of the opportunities and potential that opens up for each of us because of our Savior! Do we realize how hopeless and in-vain life would be without Him? There would be no repentance, no second chances, no greater plan or purpose.

Soemthing about lying in bed makes me analyze life, the true meat of it. This time I realized how life is simple. We get caught up in choosing gifts, spending and earning money, relationships, jobs, grades, making choices.  I get blinded by decisions that seem to consume my life while it would be so liberating to look at the grand scheme of things. If we are living the gospel and doing our best, what else can we do? When I think "life is hard," I try to remember that really, it's simple: you either do what the Lord wants you to or you don't.  When this life is over, that's the thing that will matter most anyway.

On Christmas I especially want to bear my testimony of our Savior. This year I have grown so much closer to him as I studied His life in Jerusalem and saw the places where he performed his great mission and exemplified the perfect example to us of love and service to others. Because of Him we can change. Our very natures can change, no matter what we've done before or how many times we've said we won't do it again, yet do. He lives! And He wants nothing more than our eternal happiness.

May you all get sick around Christmastime and lie in bed for hours so you, too, can remember what life, and Christmas, is really about.

To be Back in Jerusalem

What I would give to just spend one day in Jerusalem right now. I've been thinking about it all day. I think it's because it's beginning to feel like Christmas, and Christmas is so much more meaningful to me after Jerusalem. As President Uchtdorf said tonight at the devotional, when you understand that Christmas is all about Christ, it's ok if your Christmas is "imperfect." If the turkey burns and the toys don't have batteries, or you don't get what you want or things don't seem the way they should be; it's ok if you understand the real reason for the season.

Going to Bethlehem last March was perhaps the most Christmas-y I will feel all year, and I wasn't even surrounded by lights or family or gifts. It felt like Christmas because we were focused on the birth of Christ. I will never forget having a testimony meeting and singing Christmas carols in a "shepherd's field" just outside the little city. It was cold and rocky, just like I imagined it for the shepherds.  The Spirit was so strong.



Sara and I just outside Bethlehem

All day I've been thinking about how life would be if Christ wasn't born, if He didn't do what He did. All those reassuring truths we hold dear wouldn't be so. We wouldn't be able to repent, we would never be able to return to live with our Father in Heaven, families couldn't be together forever, we wouldn't have His Church or Priesthood, we would have no perfect example to follow. We would walk in darkness. We would have no prophets or apostles today. We could not have eternal life. Death would be permanent. Life would be hopeless.
I can't believe it has taken me 20 Christmases and nearly 21 years to realize just how incredible the gift of the Savior really is. At a time when there are so many uncertainties in the future, I'm so thankful that Christ stands immoveable for us. I encourage everyone to read and perhaps memorize the Living Christ this month. It's an incredible document that teaches some of the most important truths we can know.

As if watching the Christmas devotional in my cozy apartment with my dear roommates and a pan of chocolate chip cookie dough brownies surrounded by our decorated apartment and my banana-leaf nativity from Tanzania wasn't heaven enough....having the true happiness that comes from knowing what Chrismas is all about makes everything seem possible and world look so bright.