While at the nativity the other night, I couldn’t help but allow my gaze to wander high above the sheer cliffs of Tuacahn to where the real stars rested, overlooking with approval the reenacted nativity scene. The mighty force and power in nature speaks His name. It demands reverence. And now, lying here in bed listening to the rain beat against my roof, reminds me again that His is a power far beyond measure. “Fall on your knees …” O Holy Night tells me.
He was brought into this world fragile like all others, born to humble circumstances, here to be one of us, mortal, but to rise above it at the same time. “I will be on your right hand and on your left.” (D&C 29) When I ponder Christ, my thoughts always drift to all He endured and experienced just to be able to know and understand us, to be our best friend, to be our advocate. The humility in it? … He chose it. He was allotted agency just as we are, and He chose to sacrifice, suffer, bleed, and die to know us, to rescue us from loneliness, from confusion, from darkness, from anger and hate, from sorrow and sadness, from hopelessness, and suffering. Not only does He rescue us from the ailments, but in addition to that, when we are ready for it, He offers us the ability to grow in our capacity, to compound our talents and intelligence into knowing what He knows, seeing what He sees, and loving as He loves. “His law is love and His Gospel is Peace,” ring the song again. His love isn’t just rescuing. It is much more than that. It is rescuing, healing, then growing by molding and shaping us into our full potential, prepared to meet God again, to return ready to do His work.
When I first read the Come Follow Me Christmas lesson, I was a little surprised to see that it was all about The Living Christ. Then I read the document with intent to understand why they would choose it as the Christmas lesson. It made perfect sense: “He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.”
As I close this Christmas Eve night and prepare to meet the glorious morning of Christmas, I add my gratitude for the faith it took to offer the Christ child into this world of mortal hands to rescue us with hope and grace, even His own blood.
Forever grateful! Merry Christmas.
