Christmas Gratitute

--Not a fun kid post--read at own risk

I had been thinking up a bog post about the things I am grateful for around Thanksgiving time, but Thanksgiving came and went and I didn't get it done. This Christmas season has been a good one for me. It started the week we put up the decorations and read for FHE what they are symbols of, then watching the new church video during the Christmas Devotional about the events surrounding the birth of our Savior. That was a good way for the month to start, and it has kept the Savior close to my heart throughout the month.

Part of it probably has to do with circumstances in my life that have lead me to a deeper appreciation and love for the Savior. I am grateful for this appreciation. I don't know that I can yet officially say I am grateful for the trials that have caused me to become closer to the Savior, but I believe I will get to that point eventually. Maybe I'm just slow at accepting that these things we go through in life are necessary for our growth, and I just want the growth without the trials. I know that it doesn't work that way, and I am truly grateful for the growth, and the strength that the Savior gives us in troubled times, and for the peace and lifting of our burdens he can provide. So I guess that means in a round about way I am grateful for the trials.

Our Bishop talked today of the people who were waiting for the Savior's birth before his coming. I have been thinking about it much of the day and would like to write down some thoughts. The Savior made covenants with those people, promising that He indeed would come. They had to have faith and hope in the Lord and in his covenants that He would be born as promised, and fulfill His mission as the Savior. They had to keep their covenants, watch, and wait for the Savior of the world to be born and this crucial part of Heavenly Father's plan for us to be fulfilled. We celebrate this part of the Plan of Salvation in looking back, that yes--it happened, He kept His part of those covenants, and now we celebrate it, we find faith, hope, and love in it.

But we also are waiting, like those who waited for the Lord's birth. He has covenanted with us that He will come again, and we must rely on our faith that He will keep His part of the covenant. Christmas can also be a time to look forward in faith to a time when He will fulfill that promise and come again to the world--albeit differently than in a stable--but that we can look both ways--back at His birth and forward to when He has promised He will come again--
I guess I have always celebrated Christmas as looking back at His birth, life, and death. I want to add now to that list and look forward. Forward to His coming again. Forward to keeping my covenants so I can be ready, with plenty of oil in my lamp, for when He comes again. I know that I make plenty of mistakes. Sometimes I get to bogged down in my mistakes. But I want to focus on my effort. The effort it takes for me to keep oil in my lamp ALWAYS--so I'm not caught without any when I most need it. I believe that I will be blessed for that effort, in keeping my covenants to live how the Lord asks me too, and as long as I keep trying and keep believing He will be merciful towards my shortcomings.

This is all tied somehow to me being grateful:). I am so grateful for the Savior.
I can't describe how blessed I feel to have my family around me, intact. I am grateful for the way I was raised. I work with 12-13 yr. old young women in my calling some of whom have such heavy burdens at such a young age it is hard to imagine. The only thing I was worried about at 13 was if I could borrow my sister's favorite shirt to wear to school. So Thanks, Mom and Dad, for everything, especially for keeping our family together and teaching us how important that is and how to love. I am grateful for a warm, comfortable home, and the ability to meet my children's needs. I can't imagine having hungry little children and not being able to meet their needs. I'm not taking about the toys they got for Christmas or saving to buy them a trampoline this summer. I mean basic necessities of life. I know I am so blessed. I am grateful for beautiful children who keep me laughing, crying, working, GOING. They are precious. I am grateful for a dear husband who works, worries, loves and cares for us. I am grateful for my husband's family, who are my family. I am grateful for the medical care that has helped my headaches. I don't think I fully realized how incapacitating they were until they were gone! It is a miracle!

And Thanks for letting me use my blog for a journal outlet:)