Wise Men Still Seek Him

Wise Men Still Seek Him

Pattern of Love - Another Christmas Story

Picture taken for BibleVideos.lds.org.  The expectant Elizabeth and Mary enjoying the market place. 

And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.  And she spake out loud with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.  Luke1:41-42
 Sing a Christmas song:   He Sent His Son

Pattern of Love

I didn't question Timmy, age nine, or his seven-year-old brother, Billy, about the brown wrapping paper they passed back and forth between them as we visited each store.

Every year at Christmastime, our Service Club takes the children from poor families in our town on a personally conducted shopping tour.  I was assigned Timmy and billy, whose father was out of work.  After giving them the allotted $4.00 each, we began our trip.  At different stores I made suggestions, but always their answer was a solemn shake of the head, no.  Finally I asked, "Where would you suggest we look?"  


"Could we go to a shoe store, Sir?" asked Timmy.  "We'd like a pair of shoes for our daddy so he can go to work."

In the shoe store, the clerk asked what the boys wanted.  Out came the brown paper.  "We want a pair of work shoes to fit this foot," they said.  


Billy explained that it was a pattern of their daddy's foot.  They had drawn it while he was asleep in a chair.

The clerk held the paper against a measuring stick, then walked away.  Soon he came with an open box, "Will these do?"  he asked.  


Timmy and billy handled the shoes with great eagerness.  "How much do they cost?"  asked Billy.  


Then Timmy saw the price on the box.  "They're $16.95," he said in dismay.  "We only have $8.00."

I looked at the clerk and he cleared his throat.  "That's the regular price," he said, "but they're on sale for $3.98, today only."  


Then with shoes happily in hand, the boys bought gifts for their mother and two little sisters.  Not once did they think of themselves.

The day after Christmas, the boys' father stopped me on the street.  The new shoes were on his feet; gratitude was in his eyes.  "I just thank Jesus for people who care, " he said.  


"And I thank Jesus for your two sons," I replied.  "They really taught me more about Christmas in one evening that I had learned in a lifetime."

     -Jack Smith, as told to Raymond Knowles, A Night in Bethlehem

Peace be to You (Genesis 43:23) at Christmas & Always - Wise Men & Women Quotes

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of god, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue.

     -2 Peter 1:2-3

Picture from Bible Videos - Life of Jesus Christ

Sing a song here:  Each Life That Touches Ours for Good


Quotes From Famous People

It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you . . . yes, it is Christmas every time you smile at your brother and offer him your hand.

     -Mother Teresa

Peace is a journey of a thousand miles, and it must be taken one step at a time.

     -Lyndon B. Johnson

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind.  To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.

     -Calvin Coolidge

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.

     -John F. Kennedy

Five great enemies to peace inhabit with us: avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride.  If those enemies were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.

     -Francesco Petrarch

If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.

     -Winston Churchill

The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him your friend.

     -Abraham Lincoln

If you wish to be brothers, let the arms fall from your hands.  One cannot love while holding offensive arms.

     -Pope Pius VI

There must be, not a balance of power, but a community of power; not organized rivalries, but an organized peace.

     -Woodrow Wilson

Peace, like charity, begins at home.

     -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations.  Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

     -George Washington

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet, peaceful home!

     -Charles Dickens

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.

     -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Peace hath higher tests of manhood than battle ever knew.

     -John Greenleaf Whittier

We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom.

     -Dwight D. Eisenhower

Lord, bid war's trumpet cease; Fold the whole earth in peace.

     -Oliver Wendell Holmes

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

     -St. Francis of Assisi

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial fire of charity, love and peace in the heart.

     -Washington Irving

The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs.  The real differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it; between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past; between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists.

     -William J. Clinton


There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.... Time, self-pity, apathy, bitterness, and exhaustion can take the Christmas out of the child, but you cannot take the child out of Christmas.
     -Erma Bombeck

How to Find Peace and Joy at Christmas

Rejoice in the Lord always:  and again I say, Rejoice.  Philippians 4:4


And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.  Philippians 4:7
You can sing along here: Rejoice, the Lord is King! 

Picture from the Bible Videos produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A Christmas Story

It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree.  No name, no identification, no inscription.  It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past ten years or so.

It all began because my husband, Mike, hated Christmas--oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it--overspending--the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma--the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.  Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth.  I reached for something special just for Mike.

The inspiration came in an unusual way.  Our son, Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended.  Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church.  These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparking new wrestling shoes.

As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears.  It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford.  Well, we ended up walloping them.  We took every weight class.  And as each of their boys go up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat.  Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly.  "I wish just one of them could have won," he said.  "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them."

Mike love kids--all kids--and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse.  That's when the idea for his present came.  That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church.  On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me.  His smile was the brightest things about Christmas that year and in succeeding years.  For each Christmas, I followed the tradition--on year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.

The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas.  It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.

As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure.  

The story doesn't end there.  

You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer.  When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up.  But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more.

Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad.  The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope.  Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.

May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the true Christmas spirit this year and always.

                     -Nancy W. Gavin, as published in Women's Day magazine in 1982

Christmas Giving Returned in Full (A True Story)

 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.  Luke 2:4-5
 Sing a Christmas carol at this link (with music)  Once in Royal David's City

Picture provided from Bible Videos produced by The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints on LDS.org

Christmas Giving Returned in Full (A True Story)
-Glenna Cottom Sanderson-

I can hear her now, the cleaning woman with her West Virginia, hill country dialect, as she told it to us.  Poor woman, she seemed born to hardship.  She had raised her nine brother and sisters from the time she was orphaned at 12, and much of what little she could earn disappeared into the bottomless pit of her husband's alcoholism.  She looked 60; we were shocked to learn that she was only 34.  But she had such jolly brown eyes and a resilient disposition that she seemed part of our family after a few times working at our home on Saturdays.

Her daughter, Gertie, was seven years old by Christmas time, when she was in the first grade.  In the school hallway was a big box for Christmas donations of canned food or used toys.  Gertie's teacher made an eloquent plea in behalf of the poor children who had no toys at all.  Gertie brought her doll, Mary, to school, checked back a tear as she stroked the faded print dress and said goodbye, then placed her in the big box.

On Christmas Even, the cleaning woman sat at the rough, oilcloth-covered table in her bleak kitchen, her face in her hands.  Gertie, with empty arms, was gazing out into the cold blackness when the knock came.  They hardly saw the two men who left so quickly after they set down their burden and shouted, "Merry Christmas!"

The woman and the little girl stared at the basket.  It was heaped so high there must have been two bushels of food and Christmas goodies.  And there, on the very top, in a wondrous new pink dress, sat . . . the doll, Mary.

Xmas (that bad word) and the Stranger

Who so loved the world that he gave his own life . . . Doctrine and Covenants 34:3  Follow the music and sing at this link:  God Loved Us So He Sent His Son

Christmas shopping at the mall in England

Me with our English family with dear old Santa on our Christmas shopping day - 2010

The Stranger

At Christmas time, there was a man who looked so out of place,

as people rushed about him at a hurried sort of pace.

He stared at all the Christmas lights, the tinsel everywhere,

the shopping center Santa Clause, with children gathered near.

The mall was packed with shoppers who were going to and fro,

some with smiles and some with frowns and some too tired to go.

They rested on the benches or they hurried on their way

to fight the crowd for purchases to carry home that day.

The music from the stereo was playing loud and clear

of Santa Claus, and snowmen, and funny-nosed reindeer.

He heard the people talk about the good times on the way,

of parties, fun and food galore, and gifts exchanged that day.

"I'd like to know what's going on,"  the man was heard to say.

"There seems to be some sort of celebration on the way.

And would you tell me who this is, all dressed in red and white,

and why are children asking him about a special night?"

The answer came in disbelief.  "I can't believe my ears!

I can't believe you do not know that Christmas time is here -

the time when Santa comes around with gifts for girls and boys.

When they're asleep on Christmas Eve, he leaves them books and toys.

The man you see in red and white is Santa Claus so sly.

The children love his joyful laugh and twinkle in his eye.

His gift-packed sleigh is pulled along by very small reindeer,

as he flies quickly through the air, while darting here and there.

The children learn of Santa Claus while they are still quite small.

When Christmas comes, he is the most important one of all!"

The stranger hung his head in shame, he closed a nail-pierced hand.

His body shook in disbelief; he did not understand.

A shadow crossed his stricken face, his voice was low but clear,

"After all these years, they still don't know."

And Jesus shed a tear.

The Christmas Orange

" . . . Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these . . . ye have done it unto me."  Matthew 25:40
Sing a Christmas Carol at this link:  Once Within a Lowly Stable

The Christmas Orange

Whenever we get too caught up in the receiving and purchasing of "presents" during this Christmas season, it is always good to retell this old Danish tale of the Christmas Orange.

Once there was a little girl who came to live in an orphanage.  Each Christmas morning, a beautiful Christmas tree would appear in the huge downstairs hall.  Also, on Christmas morning, in addition to their usual plain breakfast, each child would be given their one and only Christmas gift - a single small orange. 

Now the headmaster of the orphanage was a very stern man and he thought Christmas to be a bother, so on Christmas Even when he caught the little girl creeping down the stairs to get a peek at the Christmas tree, he sharply declared that she would not receive her Christmas orange because she had disobeyed the rules.  The little girl ran back to her room broken-hearted and crying at her terrible fate.

The next morning as the children were going down to their breakfast, the little girl stayed in bed.  She couldn't bear the thought of watching as the other children received their gift when there would be none for her.

Later, as the children came back upstairs, the little girl was surprised to be handed a napkin.  As she carefully opened it, there to her amazement was an orange all peeled and sectioned.  "How could this be?" she asked.

It was then she learned that each child had taken one section from his or her orange and had given it to her so that she, too, could have a Christmas orange.

What an example of the true meaning of Christmas was displayed by those orphans on that Christmas morning.  Each time we eat a sweet, juicy orange, think of this story.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if the world as a whole could display that same kind of Christ-like love, not only at Christmas, but all year through?