Christ

On this, the eve of the day we celebrate Christ's birth, I though it'd be appropriate to write about Him. Because, of course, He's what it's all about.

Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, was born in a manger in Bethleham to Mary and Joseph.
That year everyone was ordered to return to the city of their roots, so to speak. Joseph and Mary traveled to from Nazareth to Bethlehem, a journey of around 62 miles. That by itself is a pretty big hike, not to mention Mary was pregnant. Now a days, doctors tell women who are expecting not to exert themselves.
Things were differently different back then.
Once there, Joseph could not find an inn for him and Mary to stay at. And Mary was just about ready to have her baby. No pressure!!
Thank goodness that they were able to stay in a stable. Back then a stable wasn't what we think of. It was most likely a cave where the animals stayed.
And so, in the lowliness (and no doubt smelliness), of that stable, Jesus Christ, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace and Messiah, among other titles, was born. He was not born in a palace or even an inn. No, He was born in a humble stable with the animals.
Shepherds in a nearby field were visited by angels and told to go to Bethlehem to see the Christ child. The shepherds obeyed and once they had seen the child, they went around and told everyone else of what they'd seen.
Now the significance of the shepherds being visited by the angels is this: they tended to the sacrificial lambs, the lambs that would be used as sacrifices in the temple.

Christ is the reason for Christmas. You've probably heard this a thousand times but, if you take off the second syllable of Christmas you get Christ. Do the same thing for 'The Spirit of Christmas.' Take the second syllable of Christmas and you have, 'The Spirit of Christ.'

It's very appropriate to have a holiday for Christ. He came here on His Father's mission and cleared the path for us to return to Him as long as we follow Him and obey His words.

During a talk at church one of the speakers asked a very interesting question. It was something like this, If Christmas is all about Christ and His birth, then how come we celebrate it by focusing on the presents and things? He said it better then I did or ever could but you get the idea.

One December we gathered together for a family meeting. We began by asking our 11-year-old son how he would feel if on his birthday we gave presents to everyone but him. He didn’t like that idea at all. We went on to ask if there is a holiday when we give gifts to others but not to the person whose birthday we are celebrating. It didn’t take the children long to realize we were talking about Christmas. We decided to start making Christmas more meaningful by giving gifts to Jesus Christ, whose birthday we are celebrating.

Our children wondered what they could give the Savior. We talked about what He desires of us. We discussed His Atonement and His desire for us to give up our sins and be obedient. We talked about how He wants us to give of ourselves by serving and sharing our talents.

That year, we had each family member write on slips of paper the gifts they planned to give the Savior and place the slips in a box. On Christmas morning, before we opened the other gifts, we had family prayer and shared with each other the gifts we were giving the Savior for the coming year.

As the years have come and gone, the tradition of giving gifts to Jesus Christ has helped our family focus on the real meaning of Christmas and on our love and gratitude for Him.1

What an idea! Give a gift to Christ.
We read this in an early morning class I take and then we each wrote a gift to Christ on the back of the piece of paper.
The gift could be anything from serving others or smiling more to writing in your journal more often or more meaningful prayer or scripture study.

Today this is my challenge to you: think about then write down what your gift to Christ will be. It's kind of a New Year's Resolution but more spiritual, you might say.


I still can't believe it, Christmas is tomorrow!!
Well, as you open you gifts and spend time with loved ones, remember why it is that we have this wonderful holiday.

__________
1 Remebering Christ at Christmas. LDS.org. https://www.lds.org/liahona/1999/12/remembering-christ-at-christmas?lang=eng