Sister Johnson: 12/24/24

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!  

I'm sending this out kinda late, but hopefully I can help spread a little christmas light:))

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SO! for anyone who didn't know, for a while now I've been working on a project.  The idea was to make homemade stockings and fill them with presents for those who were in need.  I came up with the idea in octoberish and the idea had been knocking around in my brian for a little while.  I was first planning on it being a small project.  A way for me to serve and connect with a sister who was not physically capable of doing much.  But of course as always seems to be the case with me, I eventually blew it out of proportion lol.  I seriously could not have done it without all of the help and support I received. So a big THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who helped in any way!!  Everyone who donated time, materials, or money, I have to tell you that you were the hand of God for me.  I was very stressed about this idea after I found out all of what it would actually take.  I considered dropping it, thinking it would be too much for me.  But God told me to have faith, and that everything would work out.  And it did!!  Because of you all, we were able to sew, stuff, and deliver 44 stockings to refugee children who didn't have anyone else this year.  And let me tell you we STUFFED those suckers.  A whole lot of Christmas joy is coming their way:) 

in other news... not much actually lol. I went to the Deseret peak temple in tooele! Another one down! 

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Some of you may have been slightly confused at my last email.  The second half was just a list of a bunch of scriptures.  I did that in hopes that by reading the scriptures, the spirit would teach you something that I wasn't able to write properly.  At least not at the time 😂😂 I was not in a writing mood that day, but still wanted to send out an email. I also hope to use it as reference for a future email I plan to send.  (someday😅)

But there's a scripture that I want to talk a little bit more about, especially in regards to the season:) 

"Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" - Matthew 7: 9-11

 

This (and Christmas time) has got me thinking a lot about Gifts.  Gifts from our Heavenly Father.

Christmas is all about gifts. Gifts from our family, friends. Gifts to people we don't even know through charitable acts of kindness.  As we know, this is all meant to symbolize and point us to the ultimate gift.  The gift of our Savior Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas. The baby Jesus was the ultimate gift to us from our Heavenly father. 

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." - John 3:16

But what makes this gift so special? Babies are born all the time, yet we don't celebrate them all like we do Jesus Christ.  It's in the life and mission of Christ that we see the REAL Gift that we celebrate at Christmas. As our prophet Russell M. Nelson has said "The main reason we celebrate Christmas is because of Easter."  We need to look forward into the future, into the new year, into April.  We need to look to Christ's Atonement and resurrection to truly understand the spirit of Christmas.

Now I could never encapsulate in a single email the Glory of the Atonement. I won't pretend to try.  But I will share with you some thoughts that I have had about Jesus Christ, The Atoning sacrifice, being the real gift of Christmas. 

What makes His gift so special?

1. It came at a price.

All good gifts come with some sacrifice.  Whether that be money, time, energy, or materials.  Whenever you endeavor to give someone a gift, you are deciding to sacrifice for that person. So too did our savior sacrifice for us, in order to give us this gift. Maybe, when we use the phrase "blood, sweat, and tears." to describe a beloved gift we have given, we are unknowingly honoring our Savior who "Bled at every pore." who surely wept for us, and worked for us. Christ Himself is called the Lamb of God.  And that title isn't meant to paint the picture of a happy little lamb playing in a field of flowers. 

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, and yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb." - Isaiah 53:7 

He was himself, the embodiment of sacrifice.

Even in the well known christmas story we see this reflected. In Christ, but especially in the experience of His parents.  In order for this great gift to be brought about, they had to sacrifice and suffer much.  Not being a mother, I can't fully relate to Mary.  But I'm sure any mother would attest that childbirth is one of the greatest sacrifices there ever was.  But they will also tell you that the result is one of the greatest gifts we ever receive. 

(there's an amazing talk by Elder Holland (go figures) that I want you all to read:) I'll put it at the end of the email. I highly encourage you to read it.)

2. We don't deserve it. 

In two days, I will wake up early, with a sore back from sleeping on an uncomfortable mattress in a blanket fort in our basement. I'll wake up all my siblings and we'll go upstairs to look at our haul.  Then we'll probably just sit there, looking at the tree lit up, the presents sitting there eager to be opened, and we'll just soak in the magic.  What makes it so magical though?  I think maybe it has to do with the nature of our receiving gifts at all.  The truth is, what have your children ever done to deserve all the gifts you buy them at christmas?  Nothing.  Even the idea of deserving the gift totally invalidates the meaning of the word "Gift".  If you deserve it, if you've earned it, It's not a gift.  It's a wage.  And there's not too much magic in that.  But when you sit there as a child and look at all of your christmas gifts, you feel awe, and wonder, and the goodness of it all.  You know you could never hope to afford all of these things on your own.  You don't have the means or ability to get all these things for yourself.  You could never deserve this, and yet there it is.  Right there!  You have the gift, and you are filled with Joy. 

Secretly, the story of Alma the Younger is a Christmas story. 

"And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered  also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.  Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.  And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.  And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold." - Alma 36: 17-20

I've felt it too.  And it feels a whole lot like Christmas.

3. "Because I love you."

If this gift comes at such a terrible price, if we don't deserve it, then why?  Why do we receive it?  At the heart of this beautiful gift is just that.  Love.  "For God so Loved the world." 

Your Heavenly Father loves you.  Your Savior loves you.  I know it.  And I testify of it.  This greatest of all gifts was given out of love.  

"For I so love you, that I gave my only begotten son, that if you believe in him, you should not perish, but have everlasting life." 

This Christmas, I invite you to consider the real gift of Christmas.  Think about what makes this gift the greatest of them all.  And ask what you might do to make the gifts you give, in Christmas, and in life, more like the Gift your Jesus gave you.

"But why would You do this for me?

  Because I love you.

But it doesn't seem fair.

  That's right.  It's not fair at all- it's merciful.

  It is, after all, a gift.

But how can I possibly deserve such a gift?

  Don't be silly.  You can't.  You don't.  This gift 

  is offered because I love you and want to help

  you, not because I owe it to you.

But how can I ever repay You?

  There you go again.  Don't you get it yet?

  You can't repay me, not you or all the billions 

  like you.  Gifts of this magnitude can never be 

  repaid.  For what I've done out of love for you,

  you can only love me back, and seek to become 

  what I am-  a giver of good gifts." - Believing Christ (Stephan E. Robinson)

Merry Christmas!! I love you all

- With Love, Sister Johnson. 

( https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1977/12/maybe-christmas-doesnt-come-from-a-store?lang=eng. The Elder Holland talk:)