I listened last night again to the 2007 First Presidency Christmas Devotional. All of the talks moved me as much or more than they did when I heard them in person two years ago. This is the part that is on my mind this evening.
President Monson shared a story of a Christmas from his childhood. His parents had scraped and sacrificed to get him a rather expensive electric train set. His mother had also purchased a wind up train set for a less fortunate boy in their neighborhood. He became envious of an oil tanker car belonging to that wind up train set, for his more expensive set had no such car. His mother finally gave in and gave the car to him, though she wasn’t happy about it. Then they went and gave the neighborhood boy the wind-up train set, which he was thrilled to received as he hadn’t even hoped for such a gift. He had no idea it was missing a train car, and was only delighted with the gift. President Monson described what happened next:
“I began to realize just how selfish I had been. Asking my mother to wait for me, I ran home, picked up the old tanker car, plus an additional car from my more expensive train set. And when I returned to the boy’s home, I handed him the two cars. The feelings I experienced as I watched his added joy are difficult to describe, yet absolutely impossible to forget. I had learned that true happiness comes only by making others happy.“
How true that is. It’s interesting how easily we can be distracted by the material when that which is of true worth requires no money.
As we head into this Christmas season, may we keep these words in mind:
“If we allow it, Christmas can be a frantic, over-commercialized activity. Rather, may it be to us a celebration of love and selflessness that blesses the giver more than the receiver. The difference lies in what is in the heart, not what is in the hand.”
Though there are those who dislike how commercialized, materialistic and stressful Christmas can be, It is up to each of us individually to either allow it to be that way or to make it a wonderful season of peace. For myself, I love Christmas for this spirit of love and for the focus it helps me to have on our Savior Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas, and thanks for reading my rather frequent blog posts of late. 🙂