Christmas: How Would it Have Been?

I have been thinking a lot of the Christmas Nativity story and those who were apart of the Savior's birth.  I've often wondered what it would have been like to be there and I've tried this year to find ways to put myself into the Nativity story.  I recently watched a short video about Joseph and wondered what it must have been like to be chosen as the earthly parent of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  That sparked more thought, as a soon-to-be mom, about how it must have been for Mary.  So many thoughts were swimming around in my mind that I took some time to ponder and I tried to put a few of them down on paper.  And here's the little poem that ensued.  I also highly recommend watching "The First Christmas Spirit" - it's the video I mentioned about Joseph.

Christmas: How Would it Have Been?

Kind, gentle Joseph, so humble and good,

took Mary to wife as he was told he should.

He was close to the Spirit and just and true, 

Obedient in all things the Lord asked him to do.

How would it have been for Joseph, meek and mild

to be the mortal father of the precious Christ child?

To be an example to The Exemplar and King,

truly could have been no easy thing.

The virgin Mary, sweet and loving too, 

may have been nervous for what she was chosen to do.

To bear a son who would be the Savior of all,

Yet, with great faith she accepted the call.

How would it have been for Mary, fair,

to mother sweet Jesus and tend to His care?

To nurture and comfort The Prince of Peace,

would have required her love to never cease.

The shepherds heard of peace on earth,

as they received joyful news of Christ's birth.

They went with haste to see Jesus the baby,

then went forth and to all, shared their testimony.

How would it have been as shepherds to believe,

the words of the angel and glad tidings receive?

To be poor shepherds seeking the Lamb of God,

would be a humbling path upon which to trod.

The wisemen searched in the East for the star,

they had studied, and prayed and traveled afar.

Despite their own learning, they sought God's wisdom,

and arrived at the place where the Messiah had come.

How would it have been for these wisemen of old,

to come bearing gifts of myrrh, frankincense and gold?

To the Light of the World, what could they offer Him,

that did not seem meager and humble and dim?

How would it have been in that stable there,

the night of the birth of our Savior fair?

Would we have watched with wondering awe,

and rejoiced at the miracle which we saw?

Would we, like Joseph, have willingly obeyed,

and followed the Spirit and not delayed?

Would we, like Mary, have been faithful and smart,

and pondered this miracle in our heart?

Would we, like the shepherds, come with eager haste

realizing that we had not a moment to waste?

Would we, like the wisemen, have known signs of His birth,

esteeming the Christ child to be of highest worth?

While we were not there all those years ago,

we can still, now, our Christmas spirit show.

We can develop the attributes of those in this story, 

and then, like them, come to know Christ and His glory.

We can rejoice in His coming all year long,

And follow His light so we never go wrong.

He is the Savior and Redeemer of mankind,

He raised the dead, healed the sick and the blind.

He loved and served and walked on water,

He taught the doctrine and will of the Father.

He showed us the way, fasted and prayed,

And pleased His Father as He perfectly obeyed.

The miracle of His life began with His birth,

when as an infant He came to earth.

Merry Christmas!  I hope the light and love of our Savior fills your hearts and homes this holiday season and all year long!

Dear Baby,

Dear Baby,

Your Daddy is FUNNY!  He makes me laugh every single day.  He helps me laugh when no one and nothing else can.  He's just witty and funny.  But my favorite thing about his humor is that it always uplifts.  We so desperately need that in the world today.  We have enough cynicism, sarcasm and degradation.  But your daddy never takes part in those.  He loves to tease, but it is never at the expense of another.  He loves to laugh, but it is always in such a way that leads to more joy, happiness and light.

Your Daddy is always doing things that catch me off guard that I find to be so cute and funny.  Today in our Doctrine and Covenants class we were talking about a man from Church History named W. W. Phelps.  He owned a printing press that helped the Church publish many things.  He also wrote many of the hymns and helped to compile all the songs for the Hymn Book.  At one point during the class I glanced over at your Daddy's notes and he had written, "Dubya Dubya Phelps".  For some reason it made me laugh really hard.  I couldn't stop smiling the rest of the class period.  Our teacher also always asks these obnoxious rhetorical questions in the middle of people commenting.  They usually are in response to someone's comment.  Well today our teacher had just asked yet another rhetorical question in response to someone's comment stating, " Can you think of a greater commandment than trusting in the Lord with your whole heart?"  He then called on your Daddy to make his comment.  Instead of just making his comment like everyone else in the class does, your Daddy first says, "This is not an answer to question because I can't think of a better thing to do than trust in the Lord but my comment was..."  It made the whole class laugh and your Daddy didn't even skip a beat and just kept right on speaking.  You could tell it kind of caught our teacher off guard but he just laughed and smiled for the next few minutes.  These are just simple examples but they show pieces of your Daddy that I love so much.

Baby, I hope that you can develop a sense of humor like your Daddy's.  It does the heart good.  Laughter can be such a force for good and light in this world of increasing darkness.  We need more people who can laugh with light and goodness and bring smiles to the faces of others.  Every time I look at your Daddy I am reminded of a quote by President James E. Faust (I think it fitting that he has the same name as Daddy).

"We can let the light within us show in many different ways.  It may be as simple as a smile... let the sunshine that is in your heart show in your face."

Daddy does that every day through laughter and helping other laugh and see the good in the world.  And I love him for it.  I'm excited for you to know his joy and laughter your whole life and learn it from him :)

Thanks, Baby!

I've decided to start being more faithful in my posting.  I was thinking back to when my nephew, Aiden, was born.  I started this blog then, kind of to him.  And I was pretty good at writing often.  So I've decided to pick that back up.  Only now, I'm going to sort of be writing to my own child who will be coming in April!  We actually go in later today for an ultrasound and will get to find out what gender Baby is.  James and I are hoping it's a dinosaur. ;)  Or a Jedi.  Either one would be great.  A sister missionary asked me this week if I knew yet what we were "getting".  At first, some of the other missionaries made fun of her and told her you're supposed to ask, "What are you having?" NOT "Do you know what you're getting?"  But as I thought about it I really liked her wording.  This little life inside of me truly is a gift that I am getting from my Father in Heaven.  How wonderful it is!  A perfect little gift.  An gift for growth and learning unlike any other opportunity in the world, all jammed packed into a precious little tiny life.  Heavenly Father loves me so much to give me the wonderful gift of parenthood and opportunity to learn and grow and become more like the Parent that He is.  I am so thankful.  And what a wonderful gift baby is giving to me by coming into our lives despite our inadequacies and imperfections and weaknesses.  It's the perfect reason to be so full of gratitude.  How fitting that it's nearly Thanksgiving! :) I LOVE this little life inside of me.  With each little kick that I feel, (and believe me, there are TONS of them - this little mango must be a kick-boxing champion) my love grows more - my love for baby, for James, for my Heavenly Father and for His perfect plan of happiness for families.