Christmas Peace

Just like each of our relationships with Jesus Christ, I think the message of Christmas would be different for each individual. This is the one I have learned this year. With two little girls ages 2 and 5 months and things can get a little crazy around our house. My husband, Ben, is an electrical engineer and Cheyenne is just like him. She wants to figure out how EVERYTHING works, so our house is constantly torn apart. Our neighbors can surely attest to the fact that our life is very LOUD with lots of crying, and very messy. It’s probably not a surprise to you that one of my favorite parts of the day is naptime. Not only is it actually quiet, but this is the time of the day I have chosen to read my scriptures. I know that if I don’t get that quiet time in during the day that my day is ruined.  It means I haven’t connected with my Heavenly Father, and I haven’t made a resolve to be better that day.

However the Lord tells us in John 14:27: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The world tells you that in order to have peace you need to have a peaceful environment. To commune with God you need quiet and calm in your life. I had mistakenly thought quiet was synonymous with peace. But one of the most holy experiences on this earth happened in a messy environment. It was dirty and unkempt and definitely not quiet. But there, in spite of the physical environment, Mary and Joseph communed with God and Jesus Christ entered the world.

Someone else also experienced this other worldly peace in an unexpected environment. In fact, we celebrate his 207th birthday today. Joseph Smith cried out for comfort when he was in the depths of Liberty Jail. It was dirty, cold, and unmistakably gloomy. However the Lord told Joseph, recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 121:7: My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

So for me the message of Christmas is peace. Not as the world giveth, but as Jesus Christ gives. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I want to add my testimony to Joseph Smith’s that is recorded in section 76:

And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—

That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.

Although I have not seen him with my own eyes, I too know that he lives. And I know that I am a daughter of God. I know that Jesus Christ has grown and developed just like me. He started out as a tiny baby in his mother’s arms and became the Savior of the world. I love the little-known last two verses of the hymn Once in Royal David’s City. They read:

For He is our childhood's pattern;

Day by day, like us, He grew;

He was little, weak, and helpless,

Tears and smiles, like us He knew;

And He cares when we are sad,

And he shares when we are glad.

And our eyes at last shall see Him,

Through His own redeeming love;

For that Child so dear and gentle,

Is our Lord in heaven above:

And He leads His children on,

To the place where He is gone.

I pray at each of us can make it back to live with our Father in Heaven again.