Hello friends, welcome to the month where we focus on Jesus Christ as Christmas approaches. He is certainly the Hope of the World.
I was recently driving a long distance with my wife and had some time to think. We were listening to Christmas music that reminded me of the magic of Christmas through a young child’s eyes. Specifically, I was thinking how awesome Christmas was when I was a young boy and how that excitement, enthusiasm, hope, and joy was so terrific. Then a thought popped into my head that those feelings were indeed wonderful, but such similar magical feelings at that depth were probably only ever experienced by a child.
A few moments later, that thought was replaced with a more Christ-oriented thought that reminded me that such a level of excitement, anticipation, enthusiasm, joy, and even far beyond was described for those who love God. The apostle Paul stated it this way, “…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
So my thought was now that the excitement of a young child at Christmas time is a small fraction of the excitement we can experience in a coming day if we live the first Great Commandment and all that is associated with it.
Meanwhile, prior to that wonderful coming day, the scriptures and our prophet have warned us we need to prepare for difficult days. President Russell M. Nelson’s recent talk regarding the temple’s foundation and the metaphor of that to our own spiritual foundation is a masterful message. A statement in that talk was recently emphasized to me by the Spirit. President Nelson said, “it is now time that we each implement extraordinary measures—perhaps measures we have never taken before —to strengthen our personal spiritual foundations.” I was struck with the thought that I should do this. I should do something I have never done before to strengthen my spiritual foundation.
During this Christmas season, I invite us as a stake to do the same as a gift to our Savior. Let us all examine our spiritual foundation and choose something spiritually strengthening, an “extraordinary measure” we have never done before, and implement it in our lives. If we choose to do this, we will 1) fortify our personal spiritual foundation, 2) demonstrate that we choose to follow the prophet, 3) strengthen our stake collectively and 4) show God that we love Him. We can thereby look forward, with the enthusiasm and wonder of a child at Christmas time, to blessings and happiness beyond our ability to imagine.
Of course, our ability to return to God where we can experience “what God hath prepared” is only possible because of the birth of Jesus Christ and His eventual heroic accomplishments two millennia ago. As the Living Christ document declares, “God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.”
Akron Ohio Stake News 