Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas.

I am not a poet, nor am I a musician, but I can appreciate the medium of lyric and song through which others have expressed their heartfelt desires and feelings. Such is the experience on Brattle Street in Cambridge, just north of Boston, where within a lovely home there, during the mid 1800's a family lived with loving parents and children. It was the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In fact, across the street from his home is a ward meetinghouse built nearly 100 years later.

In the summer of 1861, his wife, Fanny, was severely burned in a fire and she died the next day. As the following Christmas approaches, Longfellow writes, " How inexpressibly sad are all the holidays. 'A Merry Christmas' say the children, but that is no more for me. Perhaps someday God will give me peace."

Two years later, on Christmas Day 1863, soon after his eldest son was injured in the Civil War which tore our nation asunder, he wrote again heartfelt words that became a poem he titled "Christmas Bells." With renewed hope, after his deep despair, Longfellow realizes that a loving Heavenly Father has given us all hope through the atonement of His son, Jesus Christ.

As in that home in Cambridge the bells of Christmas brought the knowledge of a living God, so too, can we feel of His love and influence in our homes to bless us and give us eternal hope. That home may be not unlike your own. We all have trials in our lives. Many seem brief while others are ongoing. Same are small, some are overwhelming. No one is immune. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ brings us all renewed hope and promise.

The trials that Longfellow endured and the subsequent hope which inspired him in writing this hymn are reminiscent of the individual trials and everlasting grace and hope that we each may experience in our lives. Not only do we feel of the love of our Savior in knowing that the Spirit of Christmas is not dead, but that His power, love and influence can be there in our daily lives, to sustain us through ALL of our trials, large and small. The atonement of Jesus Christ covers our trials, our sorrows and our pain.

In the midst of our trials, let us always remember Him and His promise of redeeming love. Also, may we remember and pray for those around us, those within our circle of influence, those we come in contact with, and also for those whom we don't know who need His support.

I often tell my children that we never know all of whom we may influence. It may be those we work and live with on a daily, almost continual basis, or it may be someone who we meet in a fleeting moment. We are His angels; we are who He counts on to carry on His work and give His love. It may be "A voice, a chime, a chant sublime," but we are the ones to do His will.

I promise you that "God is not dead, nor doth he sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men!"

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen