A couple of years ago I was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting on Christmas Eve. I just re-read my thoughts and they are even more tender to me now that I am getting acquainted with THREE miraculous newborns/grandchildren! I needed to ponder these thoughts once again.
The talk:
Today in this meeting, and tonight with our families, we commemorate and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on the earth. Many songs we sing, stories we read, and the scriptures all paint a picture of a long and dreary trip to a bustling and busy Bethlehem, and discouraging reports that all the inns were full and there was no room.
We have sung and thought of the moments when Joseph and Mary are allowed to spend the night in the stable, with the animals. In spite of the humble surroundings, we also know that a glorious event occurred with the birth of a new baby, the Christ Child.
I think of the awe that I feel when I see a newborn baby. I am filled with amazement at the miracle of new life, I am filled with love for this new person, and I am filled with desires to nurture, to protect, and especially to become acquainted with this new person and every moment of its beginning life. In other words, my heart becomes quickly attached to a newborn the more I become acquainted with the child.
Remembering that tender scene in the stable so many years ago, and placing myself there as a witness to the birth of Christ, I receive a personal gift every year – feelings of tenderness, love, hope, and acceptance of His gift of life and atonement for me.
At Christmas time, our hearts feel close to Heaven. It is a time when the sharing of love fills our lives with comfort and joy.
This is the time of year when our hearts are most tender, we feel grateful for warm relationships, and we feel forgiving. We wish to express our love and thanks and gratitude to those who are in our circle of relationships and also to those less fortunate. All this movement of feeling in our heart and souls, works to make us teachable and fills our hearts with righteous longings and desires. Desire is actually a yearning or craving and is of critical importance because desire and action are inseparably connected. They have a cause and effect relationship. In time, our desires will make us who and what we are.
Because our desires play such a significant role in our eternal destiny, we can choose to exercise our agency in countless small ways that will help our desires to become more worthy and eventually even holy. Quote by Neal a Maxwell,“Each assertion of a righteous desire, each act of service, and each act of worship, however small and incremental, adds to our spiritual momentum.”
At this season, it is not hard and I think it is especially important to take time in all of our business to assess the worthiness of our desires
As an example, I want to use Alma’s words as he was recounting his transcendent gaze into heaven, he stated, “My soul did long to be there.”
This scripture teaches me about the power of desire (My soul did LONG) and the critical importance of the object of our desire (to be there).
Let me share something that illustrates desires of the heart.
My friend taught me a great principle she has learned about the first and second commandments. The first commandment is “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart” If we acknowledge, feel, and speak our love to the Lord, we can use the power of that love to ask for help in living the second great commandment – Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. She tells me that sometimes she thinks she is really ok in her behavior, and her husband thinks he is really ok, but they both are thinking their spouse is not ok – they might feel annoyed, or a bit of anger, or resentment or frustration or whatever it is that builds walls between any of us in close relationships. This is what my friend has taught me about desires. She has literally learned to ask for help in the following way: She says a silent prayer to father in Heaven and tells him she loves Him, the lord, first in her life. She then asks the Lord to help her fulfill and live the second commandment and humble her heart so that she can overcome those feelings of resentment, anger, frustration etc. Many times The Lord has literally helped her heart to quickly soften and those negative feelings to become feelings of love, acceptance, forgiveness and humility. IN that silent prayer and in the moments after, she has just invited the Lord into her heart and in her humility the Lord can help govern her thoughts, actions, and allow the Holy Ghost to help her open her heart to her spouse. She feels an increase of love for her spouse and also from the Lord for herself. The power of her heart’s desire (to draw upon her love of the Lord) and the object of her desire – (to have help in loving others) are very real and powerful in how she is changing in her heart and behavior, and thus becoming a more worthy and holy person.
In this Christmas season, the phrases “Let him In” or “Is there room?” are often seen on cards, found in songs, or written on wall plaques. What do these words mean to me? I do not picture making a room ready for the Savior, but I am always reminded to check my inner thoughts and see if I have made room in my mind and heart for thinking about and pondering the gifts of the savior. I want to follow the example of my friend in drawing upon my love of the Lord to help my heart make room.
There is a phrase in one of my favorite Christmas Carols, The Bleak Midwinter, with words by Christina Rossetti. I was touched by her words when I read them first as a freshman in college, and each time I hear or read these words, I am touched again.
This portion of the song refers to the gifts given to the Christ child.
What can I give him
Poor as I am
If I were a shepherd
I would give a lamb
If I were a wise man
I would do my part
But what I can I give him
Give him my heart.
I can give my heart.
What does it take for my heart to allow Him to “enter in”?
I need to have the Desire to want him to be there, I need to be present of mind, be focused, and not be swayed in distractions of this world, To allow Christ to enter my heart, I need a desire to become acquainted with Him and his voice– in D&C 84:52 we are reminded, “And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me.” I want to be acquainted with Christ. I want to let Him in to my heart. I have had the experience of becoming acquainted with new born babies, and thus I can use my experience and also learn how to be attuned to His voice – I listen, I notice, I ask, and I desire.
As we seek Christ, as we find Him, as we follow him, we can have the Christmas spirit, not for one fleeting day or few weeks each year, but as a companion always. We can turn our thoughts and desires to become acquainted with his voice. As the verse in the song tells us:
How silently how silently
The wondrous gift is given
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heaven
No ear may hear his coming
But in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive him, still
The dear Christ enters in.
I pray that this day and season our hearts may be filled with desire to be more acquainted with the Christ Child, His gifts, His love, His hope, and that we may Let Him In to our hearts, in every way possible.
Amen
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