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| ©Darrell Wyatt |
Today was our ward choir's Christmas program, and it was beautiful! The choir sang, violins played, various speakers spoke, and the spirit was definitely very strong. As I looked over the choir, I took notice of the diversity of the group. There were stay-at-home moms, students, engineers, school teachers, librarians, retirees and a couple of people who are between jobs. There were former bishops and high councilmen and primary teachers and Relief Society counselors. They were as young as ten and as old as sixty-ish. There were men, women and children. But when they were singing, they were all the same - just members of the choir.
And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift. (4 Nephi 1:3)
What a beautiful gift they shared with us, the congregation! The program was called "Jesus is the Reason for the Season", and all of the songs celebrated his birth and life and Atonement. The speakers each spoke about what Christmas meant to them. My daughter was asked to be one of the speakers, and she wrote the following poem to use as part of her talk:
Christ the greatest of us all,
Born in a manger,
Cold and small.
If you could have been there,
What would you share?
What would you give him,
If you were there?
The wise men gave gifts of wealth,
Heavenly father gave gifts of health.
What do we have,
In the small lives we live?
What on earth,
Could we possibly give?
The shepherds gave all they could,
We only need to do as we should.
Give him all your soul and heart,
Try with all your might to do your part.
I think that would be the best to give,
To live the lives he'd want us to live.
I think she really captured the meaning behind Christmas. God's gift to us was his only begotten son. Christ's gift to us was his life. What will our gift to him be?
In the first few generations after Christ visited the Nephites, the people lived together as one. There was no envy. There was no strife. There was just peace. "And surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God" (4 Nephi 1:16). As a parent, the greatest gift that I could ever receive is to have happy children. I'm sure God is no different. Just like my daughter said, we only need to do as we should. If everyone is living the lives that we have been asked to live, we would be as one. We could have all things in common amongst ourselves. We would be happy. That is the greatest gift we can give Him - not just this holiday season, but all year long.
Born in a manger,
Cold and small.
If you could have been there,
What would you share?
What would you give him,
If you were there?
The wise men gave gifts of wealth,
Heavenly father gave gifts of health.
What do we have,
In the small lives we live?
What on earth,
Could we possibly give?
The shepherds gave all they could,
We only need to do as we should.
Give him all your soul and heart,
Try with all your might to do your part.
I think that would be the best to give,
To live the lives he'd want us to live.
I think she really captured the meaning behind Christmas. God's gift to us was his only begotten son. Christ's gift to us was his life. What will our gift to him be?
In the first few generations after Christ visited the Nephites, the people lived together as one. There was no envy. There was no strife. There was just peace. "And surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God" (4 Nephi 1:16). As a parent, the greatest gift that I could ever receive is to have happy children. I'm sure God is no different. Just like my daughter said, we only need to do as we should. If everyone is living the lives that we have been asked to live, we would be as one. We could have all things in common amongst ourselves. We would be happy. That is the greatest gift we can give Him - not just this holiday season, but all year long.
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