The Real Christmas

Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, 

this post should take approximately five minutes to read from start to finish. 

This post focuses on BYU Devotional in December 1972, and it is called "The Real Christmas" by Elder Howard W. Hunter. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the Devotional. 

Elder Hunter mentioned the following: "... Christmas is a busy season. Streets and stores are filled with people making last-minute preparations. Travelers on the highways increase, airports are crowded all Christianity seems to come to life with music, lights, and festive decorations. ...

The Meaning of Christmas Today

How is Christmas regarded today? 

The legend of Santa Claus, the Christmas tree, the decorations of tinsel and mistletoe, and the giving of gifts all express to us the spirit of the day we celebrate; but the true spirit of Christmas lies much deeper than these. It is found in the life of the Savior, in the principles he taught, in his atoning sacrifice which becomes our great heritage. 

Many years ago the First Presidency of the Church made this significant statement: Christmas, to the Latter-day Saint, is both reminiscent and prophetic - a reminder of two great and solemn events, which will yet be regarded universally as the mightiest and most wonderful happenings in the history of the human race. 

These events were predestined to take place upon this planet before it was created. One of these was the coming of the Savior in the meridian of time, to die for the sins of the world; and the other is the prospective event of the risen and glorified Redeemer, to reign upon the earth as King of kings. [Millennial Star, 70:1 (January 2, 1908)]

"Christmas means giving. The Father gave his Son, and the
Son gave His life. Without giving there is no true Christmas, and
without sacrifice there is no true worship." - Gordon B. Hinckley.

... It is possible for Christ to be born in men’s lives, and when such an experience actually happens, a man is “in Christ” - Christ is “formed” in him. This presupposes that we take Christ into our hearts and make him the living contemporary of our lives. 

He is not just a general truth or a fact in history, but the Savior of men everywhere and at all times. When we strive to be Christlike, he is “formed” in us; if we open the door, he will enter; if we seek his counsel, he will counsel us. For Christ to be “formed” in us, we must have a belief in him and in his atonement. 

Such a belief in Christ, and the keeping of his commandments, are not restraints upon us. By these, men are set free. This Prince of Peace waits to give peace of mind which may make each of us a channel of that peace. The real Christmas comes to him who has taken Christ into his life as a moving, dynamic, vitalizing force. 

The real spirit of Christmas lies in the life and mission of the Master. I continue with what the writer defines as the real spirit of Christmas: It is a desire to sacrifice for others, to render service and to possess a feeling of universal brotherhood. 

It consists of a willingness to forget what you have done for others, and to remember what others have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and think only of your duties in the middle distance, and your chance to do good and aid your fellow-men in the foreground to see that your fellow-men are just as good as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts to close your book of grievances against the universe, and look about you for a place to sow a few seeds of happiness, and go your way unobserved. [Baird, p. 154]

... John Wallingford penned these lines: Christmas is not a day or a season, but a condition of heart and mind. If we love our neighbors as ourselves; ... if our charity vaunteth not itself, but suffereth long and is kind; ... if each day dawns in opportunity and sets in achievement, however small; then every day is Christ’s day and Christmas is always near.

A wise man has said: The most amazing thing about the Christmas story is its relevance. It is at home in every age and fits into every mood of life. It is not simply a lovely tale once told, but eternally contemporary. ... It is as meaningful in our time as in that long-ago night when shepherds followed the light of the star to the manger of Bethlehem. [Joseph R. Sizoo, Words of Life, p. 33] ...

Find the True Spirit of Christmas

If you desire to find the true spirit of Christmas and partake of the sweetness of it, let me make this suggestion to you. During the hurry of the festive occasion of this Christmas season, find time to turn your heart to God. Perhaps in the quiet hours, and in a quiet place, and on your knees alone or with loved ones give thanks for the good things that have come to you, and ask that his spirit might dwell in you as you earnestly strive to serve him and keep his commandments. He will take you by the hand and his promises will be kept. ..."

If you would like to read the whole Devotional either now or in your own time, here's the link below.

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/howard-w-hunter/real-christmas/

Stay Tuned until next time.

Enduring Joy ~ Part Three

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening,

this post should take three to five minutes to read from start to finish.

This post focuses on BYU Devotional in January 2020, and it is called "Enduring Joy" by President of Brigham Young University - Kevin J. Worthen. This post is part three. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the Devotional. 

President Worthen mentioned the following; "Third, recognize and remember that true joy, enduring joy - the joy that many visitors to campus sense ultimately comes only through keeping God’s commandments. Remember, King Benjamin indicated that joy describes “the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God.” 

... As Joseph Smith explained: Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.

It is only when we live in accordance with celestial law that we are able to experience celestial joy. ... And one of those commandments is to love our neighbors and to demonstrate that love through serving them, whether it be through formal ministering assignments or just through simple deeds of kindness for a roommate or a stranger. 

Focusing on the well-being of others increases our joy, regardless of our external circumstances. ... It is concern for the well-being of others that gives God joy. It is in following Him and His example that we will experience that same fulness.

President Nelson summed up the connection between joy and keeping the commandments with this very practical, but powerful, observation: Every time we nurture our spouse and guide our children, every time we forgive someone or ask for forgiveness, we can feel joy. Every day that you and I choose to live celestial laws, every day that we keep our covenants and help others to do the same, joy will be ours.

"God's doctrine shows that we are all his children
and that he has created us to have joy."
- President Dallin H. Oaks.

Fourth, because we will not in our mortal state keep the commandments perfectly, repentance is a critical part of experiencing enduring joy. Many in the world, and too many in the Church, view repentance as an unpleasant, even dreaded process, confusing the consequences of failing to repent with repentance itself. 

... One stake president wisely observed that “if we really understood the doctrine of repentance, we would run to repent.” ... This does not mean that repentance is easy or that it should be done casually. President Nelson has taught, “To repent from sin is not easy. But the prize is worth the price.”

Repentance always stretches our souls, sometimes beyond what we think we can stand, ... So if we want to experience joy, we need to repent - and to even repent joyfully. Because, as President Nelson observed, “when we choose to repent, we choose to . . . receive joy - the joy of redemption.”

Fifth, we need to recognize and remember that joy is a principle of power. Joy is not just a reward for a lifetime effort to follow God’s commandments and to repent when we fail. Joy can increase our ability to stay on the covenant path that leads to enduring joy, to do things we might not otherwise be able to accomplish.

... Similarly, we can bring God’s power into our lives by focusing on joy. President Nelson asked: If we focus on the joy that will come to us, or to those we love, what can we endure that presently seems overwhelming, painful, scary, unfair, or simply impossible? 

... What repenting will then be possible? What weakness will become a strength? What chastening will become a blessing? What disappointments, even tragedies, will turn to our good? And what challenging service to the Lord will we be able to give?

Sixth, and finally, all of this is possible only because of Jesus Christ. President Nelson summed it up: “How, then, can we claim . . . joy? We can start by ‘looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith’ ‘in every thought.’”

Let me repeat again, with a little different emphasis, the quote that so many Church leaders have recently shared:

The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.

When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation . . . and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening or not ­happening in our lives. 

Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy. . . . For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy! Thus Christ is not only “the author and finisher of our faith” but is, in one sense, the author and finisher of our joy. We begin to have joy when we focus on Christ. We can then bring the power of Christ into our lives by focusing on joy.

I bear witness that He lives and that because He lives, we can, in the world to come, experience the fulness of joy that is part of our eternal destiny, if we so choose. And in this life we can, through joy, survive and flourish spiritually. ..."

If you would like to read the whole Devotional either now or in your own time, here is the link below.

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/kevin-j-worthen/enduring-joy/

Stay Tuned until next time.

Enduring Joy ~ Part Two

 Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, 

this post should take approximately five minutes to read from start to finish.  

This post focuses on BYU Devotional in January 2020, and it is called "Enduring Joy" by President of Brigham Young University - Kevin J. Worthen. This post is part two. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the Devotional. 

President Worthen mentioned the following; "Thus, even though we may not experience a complete fulness of joy until the next life, it is very much in our interest to do what we can to experience all the joy we can in this life both because it will make our current lives better and because it will better prepare us for our ultimate destiny to experience the fulness of joy that God wants to share with us.

So how do we do that? How can we cultivate more joy in our lives now and thereby increase our capacity to experience joy in the next life? Let me share six suggestions.

Cultivating More Joy in Our Lives

First, we need to recognize, and constantly remember, that our ability to have joy in this life and in the eternities is not dependent on external conditions.

As President Nelson so eloquently put it: The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation . . . and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening or not happening in our lives.

This is the quote that Elders Christofferson and Andersen cited in their most recent general conference talks. This is the quote that Elder Kearon shared in the Christmas devotional and that Sister Bingham shared in her most recent BYU devotional.

It is so contrary to what many in the world think and that erroneous thinking diverts us from joy that it bears repeating: The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus

of our lives. When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation ... and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening or not happening in our lives.

The JOY we feel has little to do with the CIRCUMSTANCES
of our lives and everything to do with the FOCUS of our lives."
- Russell M. Nelson.

This is not a mere abstract concept. It is to be taken literally. ... This is what President Nelson invites us, as well as all the world, to experience what he calls “enduring joy” joy that can exist even when we fail a test, feel rejected, or face ridicule. ... So don’t wait for your circumstances to change before experiencing an increase of joy. Draw 

on the power of joy in every situation.

Second, we should recognize and remember that enduring joy constant joy does not mean uninterrupted bliss and a life free of challenges. Suffering and adversity are part of the eternal plan, a part of the process by which we come to develop enduring joy. Joy helps us transcend temporary trials; it does not eliminate them from our lives.

... Even God, who is the very essence of joy, experiences sorrow.

... So don’t let Satan fool you into thinking that you are failing in your quest for joy because you have tough days. All of us do. Satan wants us to be miserable like unto him, and one way he strives to do that is by discouraging us into thinking that the challenges and difficulties we experience are the result of our own inadequacies and prove that we are not worthy of joy. 

But many of life’s events are beyond our control. We may struggle with mental health issues or be radically affected by the inadvertent, or even intentional, misdeeds of others, or maybe we just struggle because of the vicissitudes of life. If so, we should not blame ourselves or think ourselves beyond God’s reach. Instead we should recognize that with the Savior’s help, we can still experience joy even in the midst of our afflictions.

As President Nelson explained, because of Christ “we can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!” When you experience the inevitable challenges that lie ahead, believe in God and believe that He is concerned for you individually. He will weep with you, even as He bids you to “lift up your heart, and be glad.”

And when you are struggling, do not overlook the positive impact that you can have on others even while you are feeling inadequate. You are probably doing much better than you think, and others around are uplifted even when you are struggling inwardly. ..."

Stay Tuned until next time.

Enduring Joy ~ Part One

Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, 

this post should take approximately five minutes to read from start to finish.  

How do you endure JOY? How does an immediate relative endure JOY?

This post focuses on BYU Devotional in January 2020, and it is called "Enduring Joy" by President of Brigham Young University - Kevin J. Worthen. This post is part one. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the Devotional.

President Worthen has mentioned the following; " ... President Nelson summed up Lehi’s life in terms that may sound a bit like your life at times: “Clearly, Lehi knew opposition, anxiety, heartache, pain, disappointment, and sorrow.” President Nelson also noted that, in these trying circumstances, “Lehi taught a principle for spiritual survival” by declaring “boldly and without reservation a principle as revealed by the Lord: ‘Men are, that they

might have joy.’"

There it is. Joy is the key to our spiritual survival in the trying times in which we live, as well as in the trying times that lie ahead of us. When we experience “opposition, anxiety, heartache, pain, disappointment, and sorrow” things all of us are likely to face in this coming year - how are we to survive? By tapping into the power of joy.

Experiencing “a Fulness of Joy”

I believe we often underestimate the importance of the concept of joy. Without much thought, we sometimes casually wish others a joyous holiday season or invite them to spread joy. But I am not sure we fully appreciate how central joy is to God’s plan for us. 

... So my request for this coming year is that we focus more on joy; that we seek to understand it better; that we come to view it not just as a mental or emotional concept or feeling of comfort but as a principle of power - power to survive and thrive spiritually and otherwise; and that we come to experience what President Nelson has called “enduring joy.”

"The greater our sorrow, the greater our capacity to
feel joy." - Mormon Messages, "The Refiner's Fire."

So we begin by asking, “What is joy?” ... Part of the difficulty is that language is a little imprecise and ultimately inadequate to capture the concept fully. ... However, this much seems clear: joy is not merely a temporary emotion but rather a more permanent and constant condition. 

As stated in the Guide to the Scriptures, joy is “a condition of great happiness coming from righteous living.” It is not some momentary sensation of rejoicing but a condition a state of being. 

King Benjamin described it this way: Consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness.

President Dallin H. Oaks explained it this way: Joy is the ultimate sensation of well-being. It comes from being complete and in harmony with our Creator and his eternal laws. The opposite of joy is misery. Misery is more than unhappiness, sorrow, or suffering. Misery is the ultimate state of disharmony with God and his laws. 

Joy and misery are eternal emotions whose ultimate extent we are not likely to experience in mortality. In this life we have some mortal simulations, which we call happiness or pleasure and unhappiness or pain.

Notice three common elements in King Benjamin’s and Elder Oaks’s descriptions:

1. In its fulness, joy is a condition or state of being; it is a constant.

2. It comes from living in harmony with God’s laws, from keeping His commandments.

3. We may not experience it fully in this life. Indeed, because of the limits of our mortal bodies and finite minds, we likely cannot even fully describe or understand this condition.

... In fact, the scriptures indicate that we can completely experience “a fulness of joy” only after resurrection, when our perfected bodies and spirits are “inseparably connected.” Thus joy is in one sense a description of our ultimate destiny. 

Joy is at the center of God’s plan for us. ... Note that the scripture indicates we shouted for joy and not with joy. It may well be that we were not just generally rejoicing at the announcement of the plan but rather were celebrating the concept of joy itself, shouting for joy, overwhelmed at the beauty and depth of the concept of joy and our realization that we, too, might enter into that state of being that our Heavenly Parents enjoyed. 

As Joseph Smith put it, joy or “happiness is the object and design of our existence.” Joy is the very purpose for which we, and everything else in the cosmos, were created. Thus it should be no surprise that it was the “good tidings of great joy” that the angel pronounced to the shepherds at Jesus’s birth.

However, just because we may not completely experience a fulness of joy in this life, it does not mean that we are without joy in the world. Adam and Eve both recognized that their choices in the Garden of Eden made it possible that “in this life [we] shall have joy,” even “the joy of our redemption.”

Indeed, one of the purposes of this life is to develop our capacity for joy and the extent to which we do that will impact the degree to which we will experience joy both in this life and even more in the world to come. As Elder Jack H. Goaslind once observed, “Our joy in God’s kingdom will be a natural extension of the happiness we cultivate in this life.”

Thus Moroni taught that our level of joy does not automatically change with death. When the Judgment comes, he wrote, “he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still.”

Stay Tuned until next time.