Keep up the good work

All our children and grandchildren coming home for Christmas for two weeks from three different states

Mom coming for a week to spend the holiday with us from December 19-27

Watching the BYU football bowl game against San Diego State with Mom, Dave and Courtney staring Kyle Van Noy

Fresh cut Christmas tree from Dustin Smith and a visit from the Smith family giving us many special gifts

I attended only two Christmas events – the BYU combined choirs and orchestra doing “A Celebration of Christmas” and the play at Pioneer Theater “A Christmas Carol” the musical. ” Rick, Andy and Chelsea attended a shortened version of Handel’s Messiah, which I missed because I didn’t feel well enough. It’s the first Christmas in years that I haven’t attended a performance of Messiah. Sad for me

BYU basketball games

Special homemade candy box that came in the mail from Aunt Lorna, including my favorite homemade licorice

Visit from cousin Rom – went to see Les Mis with Andy, Chelsea, Kate, Romney, Rich, Claire with a thorough movie critique that followed

Visit from Lindsey C.R. She even babysat Lizzie and Will for an hour until Rick got home from work

Sofia C. coming for Christmas Eve dinner (she is from Argentina and is the daughter of my companion Adriana G.)

A visit from Santa Claus a few days before Christmas! Thanks T and A!

Playing games, especially a wickedly cleaver round of the game of THINGS

Sitting by the fire, both real and gas upstairs and downstairs (although it was never hot enough for a certain person)

Sledding at MVHS stadium with all the grandkids

Ski day at Sundance for Jord, Jake, Andy, Lauren and Ellie with teacher Chelsea showing them the ropes

Girls night out to see the movie “The Life of Pi”

Visit from Lee and Kylee followed by a lovely dinner of Stouffers lasagne

Visit from Syd and Adam and little man Rafe

The present game with a staring performance by little Miss Ada. Notice our gifts in the picture above - dew rags and a toilet plunger...

Chelsea staying with us through the break except for the four days she went home, Andy staying with us for three weeks

Family party with the Philipps at their home including a lovely meal and Christmas crafts for the kids
The Christmas elf doing the 12 days of Christmas for me again and leaving a spiritual message with each gift this year. How inspiring & thoughtful of him!

Mom’s raisin filled cookies and Heggie raisin pie

Dinner with Courtney’s family before she and Charlie left to go home

Christmas Eve program with Lizzie telling the Christmas story flannel board story with the “Rapunzel” angel playing a major role

Dinner at the Hatch family home enjoying a great meal and good conversation

Wonderful gifts given and received

Headband craft making

Homemade pizza night with the Aslett family followed by a rousing game of “so you think you can dance” I won’t say who danced better…Rick or Ellie.

$700 of food disappearing in less than two weeks - many great meals were prepared, shared and cleaned up by the entire crew
Visit from Madi and Makayla with dinner at the Spaghetti Factory
Having an all time high of 17 people sleeping in our house for a few days in every nook and cranny possible!

Joseph Brickey art link here.http://www.josephbrickey.com/index.html

Under your Christmas tree this year and every year there sits a wondrous gift. It may be simply wrapped in nondescript paper or it may be wrapped in the most luxurious paper there is to be found in the Christmas wrap isle, adorned with bows and festive decorations befitting of a gift of such value. It may be the first gift you look for with anticipation, or it may be the last gift you take out from under your tree. Some of us may not even realize that the gift is there if they haven’t opened it before. We may be more excited to open the latest technological toy or the most up-to-date item of fashion wear. The gift could be skipped over or even discarded. It could be thought of as insignificant and non-consequential. It could have been opened years ago, but not fully appreciated, so now it is left as a gift of little importance, glanced at but never fully utilized. Some may even throw it out with the discarded wrappings and not even open it this year, or next year or any year in the future. The choice is ours. We get to decide if we will look for the gift, recognize it for what it is and use it to bless our lives in the upcoming years.

Rick and I moved into our first home in January of 1985. We had three little children and we were excited to begin our first experience of living in our own home. Nearly three decades have passed since that time. We moved around the corner from the first little home to a larger home some years ago, but we have still had the same friends and neighbors. We have lived in a ward neighborhood that is made up an area of four blocks by four blocks and was later condensed to the size it is now, to a size of 2 blocks by four blocks. Over the 28 years we have lived in this small ward/neighborhood area, we have watched life played out in all its wonder and glory among ourselves and our friends and neighbors. There have been ups and downs, heartache and sorrow, joy and success and challenges met with faith and love. I could talk for an hour or more about all the positive accomplishments and wonderful acts of service we have witnessed, but my thoughts today go along the lines of the struggles we have observed our dear friends and neighbors pass through. We have seen you struggle with death of children, teenagers, wives, husbands, friends and parents. We have watched you deal with handicapped children, mental health issues, disability issues, serious health issues like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and more, other chronic and disabling physical health challenges and loss of mobility and independence. There has been deep sorrow because of way-ward children, loss of faith among them, no desire to serve missions, same gender attraction issues, teenage pregnancy, abuse in all its terrible array and heartbreaking infidelity. Some have dealt with loss of employment, not enough money to meet the needs of the family, and not enough by way of consistent food, shelter and clothing. Some have had a burning desire to marry and that opportunity never came. Others had fertility issues and resulted in nothing being able to bear children. There has been loneliness, depression, regret, and disillusionment. In short, the human experience has played out right before our eyes among those that we love and admire.

What does all this pain and suffering have to do with Christmas? It has everything to do with Christmas, for it has to do with the wondrous gift that is under your Christmas tree this very year! It has to do with the power of the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ to succor us, to help us, to heal us and to give us hope! Who among us doesn’t need this precious gift?

In 1982 my dad was diagnosed with cancer. Although we didn’t know it at the time, the cancer had probably spread from a misdiagnosed and consequently untreated prostate cancer that he had experienced some year earlier. By the time the cancer was properly diagnosed, it had spread to his spine and ultimately to other parts of his body. During the Christmas of 1982 I frequently traveled the road between Logan, Salt Lake City and the university hospital and our home in Rupert, Idaho to visit my dad and to help my mother. I was 27 years old at the time and even though I had served a full-time mission and had studied the gospel and knew the scriptures, I was very naive and not very knowledgeable about the gift of the Atonement of our Savior. I was under the impression that the gift was given more to pay the price for our sins than to actually help us through our daily struggles. I was inclined to limit the power of the atonement in my life because I didn’t understand or exercise sufficient faith to believe that it could lighten my sorrows and give rest to my soul. I drove past the Utah state prison on these occasions visiting my dad and frequently thought "why couldn’t God just give cancer to those who were just sitting in prison doing nothing productive with their lives, and spare the life of this good man who had done nothing wrong and didn’t deserve such pain and suffering?" I asked the question WHY, many, many times. Why would God take this man away from us when we needed him? We fasted. We prayed. We exercised our faith. Blessings were given. Still on July 7, 1983 he passed away. Where were we to go with the grief, the unfairness of the whole situation, the sorrow and the pain?

We had a choice to make then and there. We all have a choice when faced with similar experiences. We can turn down one of two roads. We can curse God and die spiritually or we can take those tentative steps forward and exercise faith in God’s plan for us. We may not understand, we may not even agree with it at the time, we may not want to follow, but we will ultimately be blessed and be more content with ourselves and our lot in life if we show faith, hope, courage and determination to follow God’s plan for us by submitting our will to his. If we heap our sorrows and our pain upon the one who is mighty to save, who has the strength to carry the load and who has experienced our sorrows, our burdens will become lighter. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not insurance against pain. It is a resource in the event of pain.

Alma 7:11- 12

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and ^aafflictions and ^btemptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will ^ctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him ^adeath, that he may ^bloose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to ^csuccor his people according to their infirmities.

For the past 33 years, Rick and I have attended an annual production of Handel’s Messiah. I have most of the text memorized (which are all scriptures from the Bible) and know the beautiful melodies by heart. Without really realizing it, my heart was also memorizing the words and my understanding of the wondrous gift that was given came fully into view. I now know with certainty that the part of the atonement that has to do with the Savior bearing our sorrows is for me and it is for you. Now. Not down the road someday. It is there for all who seek the gift and who use it. Little children can access this gift. Teenagers and tap its wondrous power. Parents, adults and men and women of all ages don’t have to walk the path alone. All they need to do it open the gift and access it!

Come unto Him, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest. Take his Yoke upon you, and learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

His yoke is easy and his burthen is light.

Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He was despised and rejected of m en, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

Surely, He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.

And with his stripes we are healed.

But how are we healed. How is it done? We may want the wondrous gift in our lives, but we may not know how to go about finding it and implementing it.

May I make a few suggestions?

Pray. Pray like never before.

Keep walking forward. Don’t stop. Don’t throw in the towel. Keep going to church and enjoy the fellowship of the saints. Know that other are going through their own struggles. Know that you are not alone.

Attend the temple.

Read scriptures, uplifting books, the experiences of others who have gone through trials

Serve, serve, serve. Seeing the challenges of others and helping them minimizes our own struggles

Surround yourself with people of faith and courage. Follow the examples of others. Let them serve you.

Fully access the gift of the Holy Ghost

Lift up your heads!

Be meek and receive Him into your life

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me and further in

Alma 26:12 – I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things…

Elder Bednar quote The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality, April 2012

"I suspect that many Church members are much more familiar with the nature of the redeeming and cleansing power of the Atonement than they are with the strengthening and enabling power. It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ came to earth to die for us—that is fundamental and foundational to the doctrine of Christ. But we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to live in us—not only to direct us but also to empower us.

Most of us know that when we do wrong things, we need help to overcome the effects of sin in our lives. The Savior has paid the price and made it possible for us to become clean through His redeeming power. Most of us clearly understand that the Atonement is for sinners. I am not so sure, however, that we know and understand that the Atonement is also for saints—for good men and women who are obedient, worthy, and conscientious and who are striving to become better and serve more faithfully. We may mistakenly believe we must make the journey from good to better and become a saint all by ourselves, through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline, and with our obviously limited capacities.

The gospel of the Savior is not simply about avoiding bad in our lives; it also is essentially about doing and becoming good. And the Atonement provides help for us to overcome and avoid bad and to do and become good. Help from the Savior is available for the entire journey of mortality—from bad to good to better and to change our very nature."

Consider the example in the Book of Mormon as Alma and his people are persecuted by Amulon. The voice of the Lord came to these good people in their affliction and indicated:

“I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs. …

“And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord” (Mosiah 24:14–15; emphasis added).

What was changed in this episode? It was not the burden that changed; the challenges and difficulties of persecution were not immediately removed from the people. But Alma and his followers were strengthened, and their increased capacity and strength made the burdens they bore lighter. These good people were empowered through the Atonement to act as agents and impact their circumstances. And “in the strength of the Lord” Alma and his people were then directed to safety in the land of Zarahemla.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in! Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in! Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory!

The Kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever, Hallelujah! King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and He shall reign forever and ever, Hallelujah!

This year, look carefully for the wondrous gift under your tree. It is there for each person in your home! Unwrap it carefully and consider its power to comfort and succor you in time of need. Place it in a special place to remind you throughout the year that the gift keeps on giving all year long. As the years go by, you may find yourself looking for it first under your tree every year at Christmas time. It is the Savior’s gift to YOU, given without thought of return, given with love and given with the power to save, to heal and to comfort and to enter in your heart and soul. I learned this truth even more forcefully through the trial of breast cancer. I testify that He is real, that He lives, that He know us and that He can and will help lift us in our time of need if we are meek and let Him in.

Third verse of O Little Town of Bethlehem

How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven
No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.

Talk I gave in our LDS congregation on December 23, 2012. I've had some requests to share it, so I thought this might be a good way.