Shepherds at the Gate of Christmas

Christmas always reminds me of the years I served as a bishop. I was an eyewitness then to the lovingkindness of my ward members for one another. As a steward of the sacred fast offering funds donated to the Church, a bishop is often the one who stands in the breach when all other help flees from those most in need.

To announce His birth as the Shepherd of Israel, the angel appeared first to shepherds in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. Today’s modern under-shepherds are the bishops of Israel who succor and nurture the sheep in the wide expanse of this world.

Fast offerings are donated monthly on the first Sunday of each month. We observe the fast for a twenty-four hour period beginning on Saturday. The cost of the two meals skipped is suggested as an offering to assist the poor and the needy who live among us. The bishops of the Church are encouraged to “seek out” the poor and needy, and not to wait until they land on his doorstep. It is a sobering and humbling assignment, as any bishop will attest.

It seems the Christmas season brings more stories as the years unfold. Of course, the best stories never are told. They remain the sacred and secret domain of bishops and their flocks. But this past week (I wrote this account in 2011) another story is added to my personal lexicon. I share it here, preserving the anonymity of those involved.

I had a phone call from a former co-worker with whom I hadn’t spoken in months. He said, “I was speaking with someone the other day who suggested I call you. I need some of your wisdom. I’ve gotten myself into a situation, and I need your help. Could we meet for breakfast tomorrow?”

At breakfast my friend poured out a story I had not anticipated. He and his wife had encountered some health issues since we had last spoken. They had gotten behind on their bills, and he had taken out some payday loans to meet their obligations. He had not told his wife, not wanting to alarm her. The exorbitant interest payments were now consuming all their income, and the rent was due the following day. They had just moved from one distant city to another nearer his work, and had done some painting to enable themselves to get into a new rental home. Now the first month’s rent was due and they had no way to pay it.

We discussed possible sources of help. He had consulted a bankruptcy attorney last year, but they hadn’t taken any steps in that direction. His sister, a CPA, was the executor of his mother’s estate, but he feared she would treat him harshly when she heard the predicament he was in. There seemed to be no options. He had requested a consolidation loan from his bank, but they had declined his request because his credit had been impaired.

I suggested three alternatives to explore. 1) Re-connect with the bankruptcy attorney to see if she could help stop the freight train of the escalating interest payments due to the payday lenders; 2) call his sister to see if there might be any way she could think of to help him, and 3) call your new bishop. I also recommended that he not hide their situation any longer from his wife.

My friend reminded me he was not a member of the Church, but my response was, “Everyone in this world has a bishop, most of them just haven’t met each other yet. Your wife was a member of the Church at one time, wasn’t she?” He confirmed she had been. But he hastened to add he had been a lay minister in another church before he had moved to Utah and met his wife. He had to give up his ministry to accept a job here, and he wouldn’t even know how or who he should contact.

I took a moment to explain how to find his bishop through the Church’s website. (It's much easier today than when I was writing this account in 2011). He wrote down my instructions carefully. I had a chance to explain that like him, bishops in the Church are lay ministers, called for a period of time by their leaders from among their congregations, then released to go back into the ranks from which they had been called. I explained a little about fast offerings, and the purposes for which bishops may use those member donations as they feel inspired to do so. I told him without even knowing who he was, I was certain his bishop would stand ready and able with resources to assist him.

As we parted, I was gripped with a moment of fear. What had I just done? I didn’t even know who his bishop was! How could I make such an audacious promise and assume it would play out smoothly the way I hoped it would?

Then the Spirit whispered to me, chiding me a little and speaking peace to my heart, “You were a bishop once, David. You know how I work, don’t you? Have a little faith.”

Later in the day, I finally had a chance to check my voicemail. There was a message from my friend. He said he had done as I had suggested, found his new ward and his bishop. He had called the bishop, who heard his story with an empathetic ear, and suggested that they meet that morning at his office at the ward building. In part, he said to me in the message, “I went over my scenario with him, and he’s going to help me with the rent. I’m so glad I came to you. Thank you for listening to me and for your wisdom and your advice.”

Honestly, the Lord makes us all smarter than we are if we listen to His spirit directing us and we act on those impressions. He said at the end of his message, “I should know God is in charge. He’s proven it again to me this morning. Thank you.” Our part is to humble ourselves. He manifests His love for each of His children without judgment or reservation.

I thought of pennies, nickels and dollars that comprise the monthly fast offerings of the faithful saints, and I felt to give thanks once again for those who give in the same spirit our Father in Heaven gives. It is all about His love for His children.

I echo with heartfelt gratitude the words of President Gordon B. Hinckley, who offered these insights about bishops in a General Conference address (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1999/04/the-shepherds-of-the-flock?lang=eng#p29):

“I stand in humble gratitude and respect and admiration for the bishops of this Church. In the most dire of circumstances, I watched them in La Lima, Honduras. I spoke with them, shook their hands, loved them. How thankful I am for these men who, without regard for their own comfort, give of their time, of their wisdom, of their inspiration in presiding over our wards throughout the world. They receive no compensation other than the love of their people. There is no rest for them on the Sabbath, nor very much at other times. They are the ones closest to the people, best acquainted with their needs and circumstances.”

The requirements of their office are today as they were in the days of Paul, who wrote to Timothy:

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

Not given to wine, no striker [that is, not a bully or a violent person], … not a brawler, not covetous (1 Timothy 3:2–3).

In his letter to Titus, Paul adds that “a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; … Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:7, 9).

I suspect there will be a “sequel” to this formative introduction between my friend and his new bishop. How marvelous that a bishop stands ready to help the constituency of his flock, even those who have not as yet been “branded” as one of his own…

For, in fact, we are all His.

Sometimes we are the recipients, other times we are the givers, but He always ministers to our needs through His under-shepherds, the bishops of Israel.

Today, somewhere in Sunnyvale, California, Phil Sharp was ordained as a new bishop, the first to serve in our family’s next generation. I know he will be blessed as the mantle rests upon his shoulders and he takes up his new role as a shepherd in Israel to the flock where he is assigned. (Just this weekend in 2024, Phil was sustained as a counselor in their stake presidency in Bloomfield, Colorado, where he continues to bless many lives through his consecrated service).

The gates of Christmas are flung open wide for all who will come to enter therein… 

Our Lighthouse in the Storm #LIGHTtheWORLD

Today marks another anniversary in our family life. On a cold wintry day in December - the 9th - in 1992, we awoke to the tragic realization that our youngest daughter, Adrienne, had died unexpectedly during the early morning hours. I wrote about her death in an earlier entry titled "Losing" Adrienne. It seems impossible to imagine her now as a twenty-eight year-old woman, but that's what she would be had she lived. 

I asked Patsy this morning while we were greeting a new day in bed, "Tell me your memories of Adrienne this morning." Somewhat wistfully she responded, "I wish I had more memories of her." 

She came to #LIGHTtheWORLD in our family. Her headstone identifies her as "Our Lighthouse in the Storm." Her mortal flame flared quickly and brightly and then it was extinguished too soon. 

It was fifteen days before Christmas. After the funeral and burial we continued to stumble around in a stupor of thought, unable to gather ourselves to get Christmas ready for the children. I remember distinctly wandering aimlessly through the old Crossroads Mall downtown looking helplessly for Christmas gifts without success. Nothing seemed appropriate or meaningful to us. I think we finally settled on sweaters for everyone in one store, wide selection in sizes and styles, and I don't even remember the brand name but they were cool enough to satisfy my numbed mind. I'm sure we picked up more than that, but honestly it was all a blur. Our hearts weren't ready to move on from Adrienne.

I was stuck. It took me about a year to finally get back to some semblance of normalcy again. What happens in traumatic events like this one is a sense that you have lost control over the simplest of tasks. The brain is assaulted and then shuts down. For months afterward emotion would come welling to the surface over seemingly disconnected stimuli. The trauma would start afresh and the memories were still raw and sharp.

Everything about Christmas suggests light during the darkest time of the year - until finally around Christmas day we hit the winter solstice and the longest night of darkness in the annual calendar. We know the correct time of the Savior's birth was in the spring at Passover time in Jerusalem because of modern revelation and the statements of the living prophets (see D&C 20:1). But we celebrate Christmas in the darkest time of the year as a powerful symbol of light conquering darkness.

I have been asked many times in the ensuing years by many people what the most traumatic experience of my life was, and most would assume it was this time of our lives. However, after the events of this past year I would say without hesitation that brain surgery eclipses everything else that resembles a definition of "traumatic." The paradox is that through the adversity has come an abiding and deepening conviction of Christ's love for me and my family.

I remember one night shortly before surgery when I was comforted with the knowledge that my father and my mother were nearby and fully aware of my circumstances. Another night after surgery while rehabbing Dianne told me she called down Adrienne to provide comfort and protection in case I fell down getting to the bathroom in the middle of the night. In that same period of time my departed brother Drew also provided protection. I was being aided by help from beyond the veil and they embodied #LIGHTtheWORLD ministrations for me personally when I was so compromised I could not do much of anything for myself.

So which Christmas do I remember best? The year of 1992 will always remind me of the Light of the World, the birth of a Holy Infant in a lowly manger stall in Bethlehem. He brought peace to all who would come to Him throughout his mortal ministry and to those of us who can still come today. 

But perhaps the COVID-19 year of 2020 will also be memorable as I look back. Though Adrienne's mortal life was a short seven weeks, the life of our Lord and Savior spans infinity and will never be extinguished. He assures us that our eternal lives also involve infinite boundaries. 

He conquered death, spiritual and physical, for all the inhabitants of this Earth and all the other worlds our Father has created.

Thanksgiving Journal, Day 3

 It's Monday morning. I'm grateful for Monday, as it signals the beginning of a new week filled with hope and anticipation for the week to come. I'm grateful for Patsy's suggestion last night that we could put up the Christmas tree today, something I was unable to even think about last year.

So today I'm grateful for health and the restoration of strength sufficient to begin welcoming the Christmas season with lights, trees, ornaments, and all the decorations that spell "festive." Nobody does home decorations for every holiday like Patsy - especially Christmas nativities that fill our home as a reminder of "the reason for the season."

Many years ago we learned that Patsy was allergic to pine trees and aspen trees, and guess where we live? That's right, in the middle of a forest surrounded by pines and aspens. It was then we learned not to bring a fresh cut pine tree into the house every Christmas season. The Goates Kids replaced that tradition with a 9 foot artificial pre-lit pine tree that we have enjoyed each season. It's green, it's sustainable, and much better suited to Patsy's allergies. So I am grateful for an artificial Christmas tree that looks better in that corner of the living room than anything we could have cut ourselves.

I am grateful for the beauty of nature that surrounds us. At a distance, especially after fresh-fallen snow, there is nothing to exceed the exquisite and intricate patterns of creation that renew their attractions with the change of each season. I love the scent of pine in the winter, especially now that I can smell again, so I am grateful for all five senses, especially smell and sight that were restored to their full spectrum this year. In the fall yellow leaves on the aspen trees produce a gorgeous contrast to the evergreen pine needles

I love looking out my office window up the Mirror Lake highway toward the majestic peaks to the north and the east of my vantage point. At 7,333 feet above sea level, I give thanks for the ever-changing vistas. We live in a beautiful place unlike any other. We share our location with fish, deer, elk, moose, fox, rabbits, Canadian geese, sand hill cranes and ducks. 

We are visited by the occasional black bears and cubs, coyotes, mountain lions (some fans of the school down south would call them "cougars") and pot guts, rock chucks, field mice, and birds of prey in all varieties including owls, eagles and hawks year around. You won't find that array of wildlife in any subdivision anywhere. (Didn't even mention the cows and horses.)

We are blessed as a people living in Utah to also be surrounded by temples. Daughter Dianne and her Bayles crew were on a field trip yesterday to see the new Saratoga Springs temple as it is being constructed on the western slope of Utah Lake. She calculated that they live within striking distance of thirteen temples now. 

I give thanks for not only easy access to temples, but also the priesthood keys that actuate all the ordinances for all God's children who desire the hope for an eternal family. I am thankful for the glorious opportunity Patsy and I had to serve as ordinance workers in the Salt Lake Temple during the final year before it closed for renovation. We will be eager to return to the temples as they reopen.

I am also grateful for good friends this morning. I had the chance to call many of them during this summer to tell them of my brain surgery and its successful outcome. It was so great to get caught up with many of them. I give thanks today for my long-time mentor, Leon Peterson, who passed away on Saturday. I have many treasured memories of our association with him and his family. 

Many of my friends and acquaintances are now moving on from this life, and a lot of us are having "near misses." I was almost in the ranks of the newly departed this year, but I am thankful for the renewal of the lease on my physical body for perhaps a few more miles.

Who Started the Welfare Program?

Regular visitors to this page will know my identity as the eldest grandson of President Harold B. Lee. From time to time I am asked to contribute insight and commentary on his history, as I was last week in our ward gospel doctrine class.

The lesson was on the origins of the Church Welfare Program. Whenever these infrequent invitations pop up, I go back and take a fresh look at what I know about Harold B. Lee. Each time I do it I feel as though I have a personal "visit" with him. It all feels so familiar and comfortable. His spirit and his gentle reminders to me are omnipresent.

This time as I reviewed the origins of the Welfare Program through his writings I had a fresh perspective.

President Harold B. Lee, 1930

Harold B. Lee was thirty-one years old when he was called as the President of the Pioneer Stake. There were six stakes in Salt Lake City at the time. The year was 1930, and the full impact of the Great Depression was being felt by the members of his stake. It was eighty-three years ago today on October 26th, when the stake was reorganized. A few days before that, he was invited to come to the office of President Rudger Clawson. He describes it this way:

"On the Friday preceding the quarterly conference, I was called to the office of President Rudger Clawson, where I was told by President Clawson and Elder George Albert Smith that I had been chosen by the First Presidency and the Twelve as the new president of Pioneer Stake. I told them I would much prefer working as a counselor to Brother Hyde, and was bluntly told by George Albert Smith that I had been invited to meet with them, not to tell them what should be done, but to find out if I was willing to do what the Lord wanted me to do. There followed a discussion on the selection of my counselors. Again I was told when I asked if they had any suggestions on that, 'We have suggestions, but we are not going to tell you - that is your responsibility. If you are guided by the Spirit of the Lord, you will choose those whom we have in mind.'" (Harold B. Lee, Prophet & Seer, L. Brent Goates, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1985, 88).

He describes how difficult the decision was in choosing his counselors:

"I retired that night, or rather early morning, to a fitful sleep, about three o'clock in the morning, after earnest prayer for guidance. During the few hours I tried to sleep it would seem that I had chosen two counselors and was trying to hold council meetings with them. Disagreements, obstacles, and misunderstandings would arise, and I would awake with a start to realize that my first choices were wrong. This process was repeated with ten or twelve of my brethren until, when morning came, I was certain the Lord had guided me to choose Charles S. Hyde and Paul C. Child as my counselors. When I announced to the Brethren my decision the next morning, they smiled their approval. The men whom they had desired had been selected.

"On the Saturday night following our conference priesthood convention, I went for a long ride with Brother Hyde, who was many years my senior in age and experience, and informed him of the proposed change and of my desire for him to be my first counselor. It was like a thunderbolt to him, and he deferred his answer until he could think it over and talk with President Clawson the next day. Paul C. Child had been my bishop in the Poplar Grove Ward for seven years, and he was not aware of his selection until his name was placed before the conference." (ibid., 88-89).

Harold B. Lee recorded in his journal that by 1933, out of their stake population of 7,300, there were over 4,800 who were "wholly dependent upon outside agencies" for a livelihood. The national jobless rate became a shocking 24.9 percent. Out of a work force of 51,132,000, approximately 12,830,000 were unemployed. As a stake presidency much of their time was spent in prayerful supplication over what to do about their stressful conditions.

Almost immediately in the fall months of 1930, they had gone to work to do what they could to alleviate the problems of the unemployed.

"An employment committee in each ward, consisting of a member of the bishopric and the chairman of the welfare committees of the Melchizedek Priesthood quorums and the Relief Society welfare workers, kept in touch with the available male and female workers. Directed by Fred J. Heath of the stake central committee, workers from all wards were assigned to farm and industrial projects, which were organized from Provo on the south to Layton on the north.

"Workers were told that for their services the stake would undertake to see that food and fuel and shelter for themselves and their families would be provided fully. Hundreds of tons of produce soon began to roll in-peaches, tomatoes, fruits, vegetables, and meats. Relief Society women were organized and two canning machines were purchased for their own use. After exhausting all surplus bottles in the area through a 'drive,' we purchased ten to twenty thousand cans from the American Can Company at 1.5 cents each.

"After supplying our families and stocking our storehouse, we were able to sell considerable surplus to outside people.

"The storehouse was known as the Pioneer Stake bishop's storehouse and the bishops of our eleven wards were organized into an executive committee, with Bishop Joseph H. McPhie of the 25th Ward as chairman. They were instructed to meet regularly and to manage and initiate the policies of the storehouse. The First Presidency, after hearing our plan, agreed to permit withdrawals from the tithes to supplement the food received from our own efforts. With these funds we purchased at wholesale prices butter, eggs, flour, sugar, coal, etc., to provide a wide variety of foodstuffs for our people." (ibid., 94-96).

Harold B. Lee was often asked, "Who started the Welfare Program?" In 1958, speaking at a regional welfare meeting, this is what he would say repeatedly in answer:

"Everywhere I went people were always asking questions. They asked, 'Who started the welfare program?' I have always answered, and do today, 'The Lord started it.' Many asked how the welfare program was getting along — and that got to be such a monotonous question that everywhere I was being asked how the welfare program was going — and I used to say, 'Just as fine as the bishops of this church make it go, and no better.'" (Teachings of Harold B Lee, Clyde J. Williams, editor, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1996, 304).

There are perhaps a thousand more details in the history that are all well-documented, but many years later looking back, Elder Lee offered this more valuable insight in a magazine article entitled, "Are You Ready for Christmas?" It was published in the Improvement Era in December, 1968.

"One Christmas (I believe it was the first one during my presidency), our small daughters quickly opened their Christmas morning gifts and soon dashed over to show their little friends the new dolls and other gifts. Shortly they returned home, both in tears.

"'What in the world is the matter?" we asked.

Sobbing, they said: 'Our friends did not have any Christmas. Santa Claus did not come to their home.'

"All too late we remembered that just across the street was a family whose father was not a member of the Church, although the children were, and the mother passively so; he had been out of work, and we had forgotten. Our Christmas was spoiled.

"We sent for those children and tried to divide what we had in an attempt to make up for our lack of thoughtfulness, but it was too late. Christmas dinner that day did not taste very good to me. I was unhappy. I realized that upon my shoulders rested the welfare of the people of the stake.

"We made a survey and were startled to discover that 4,800 of our membership were either wholly or partially dependent — the heads of families did not have steady employment.

"There were no government make-work projects in those days. We had only ourselves to look to. Church finances were declining. We were told that we couldn't expect much help from the general funds of the Church. Thus, it was in this same condition that we approached another Christmas season.

"We knew that we had about one thousand children under ten years of age for whom, without someone to help them, there would be no Christmas.

"We started to prepare. We found a second floor over an old store on Pierpont Street. We gathered toys, some of which were broken, and for a month or two before Christmas, fathers and mothers were there. Some arrived early or stayed late to make something special for their own little ones.

"That was the spirit of Christmas giving — one only had to step inside the door of that workshop to see and feel it. Our goal was to see that none of the children would be without a Christmas.

"There was to be Christmas dinner in all the homes of the 4,800 who, without help, wouldn't have Christmas dinner. Nuts, candy, oranges, a roast, and all that went with it would be their Christmas menu.

"It so happened that I was then one of the city commissioners. On the day before Christmas that year we had had a heavy snowstorm, and I had been out all night with the crews getting the streets cleared, knowing that I would be blamed if any of my men fell down on the job. I had then gone home to change my clothes to go to the office.

"As I started back to town, I saw a little boy on the roadside, hitchhiking. He stood in the biting cold, with no coat, no gloves, no overshoes. I stopped, and he climbed into the car beside me.

"'Son,' I asked, 'are you ready for Christmas?'

"'Oh, golly, mister, we aren't going to have any Christmas at our home. Daddy died three months ago and left Mamma and me and a little brother and sister.'

"Three children, each under ten!

"'Where are you going, son?'

"'I am going up to a free picture show.'

"'I turned up the heat in my car and said, 'Now, give me your name and address.'

"Further conversation revealed that they were not members of the Church.

"'Somebody will come to your home; you won't be forgotten. Now, you have a good time today — it's Christmas Eve.'

"That night I asked each bishop to go with his delivery men and see that each family was cared for, and to report back to me.

"While waiting for the last bishop to report, I painfully remembered something. In my haste to see that all my duties at work and my responsibilities in the Church were taken care of, I had forgotten the boy in my car and the promise that I had made.

"When the last bishop reported, I asked, 'Bishop, have you enough left to visit one more family?'

"'Yes, we have,' he replied.

"I told him the story and gave him the address.

"A little later he called to say that that family too had received some well-filled baskets. Christmas Eve was over at last, and I went to bed.

"As I awoke that Christmas morning, I said in my heart, 'God grant that I will never let another year pass, but that I, as a leader, will truly know my people. I will know their needs. I will be conscious of the ones who need my leadership most.

"My carelessness had meant suffering the first year because I did not know my people. But now I had resolved never again to overlook the needs of those around me." (ibid., 322-24, emphasis mine).

I heard Harold B. Lee give many sermons while I was a young man growing up. I was twenty-five years old and married with two children when he died, so I knew his heart, mind and soul as well as anyone could. Whenever he spoke about the Welfare Program, he invariably turned to these verses:

For it is expedient that I, the Lord, should make every man accountable, as a steward over earthly blessings, which I have made and prepared for my creatures.
I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine.
And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine.
But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.
For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves.
Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment. (D&C 104:13-18, emphasis mine).

In his own words as recently as last week, Harold B. Lee gave me valuable insights into how he believed the Welfare Program started. Boiled down to its essence, I concluded the Welfare Program started because of the need of some little girls who lived across the street who didn't have Christmas that year. It stemmed not from his organizational genius or his brilliant mind, but rather from his "carelessness," which then led to seeking inspiration with his valued counselors on how to address the overwhelming basic needs of his stake members.

Anthon H. Lund, Heber J. Grant, Charles W. Penrose
First Presidency, 1930

The answers then flowed in the form of revelation from God over a period of years. Those revelations translated into action in the Pioneer Stake, then his implementation church-wide in the years that followed under the direction of the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles.

The principles haven't changed much in the years since. The goal of Church Welfare is to eradicate the dole - getting something for nothing. When people who need help are willing to work as they are able, self-reliance and self-worth are re-enthroned until they are able to stand on their own once again without assistance. The assistance they receive is only designed to be temporary, and their needs are provided by the bishops in the wards in which they reside. Sometimes those needs become perpetual due to poor health and other extenuating circumstances, and the good bishops of this Church are taught to seek out the people within their ward boundaries who need assistance and then to give it freely as required.

The bishop has at his disposal funds donated by members of his ward in the form of "fast offerings." Once a month we fast for twenty-four hours and donate the equivalent cost of those meals or substantially more for those who are in a position to do it. It's all voluntary, it's the Lord's way of providing for His saints and all His children, and there is no government program involved. Today those funds are commoditized for distribution worldwide whenever and wherever disasters strike.

It's a timely lesson for the world in which we now live in America, overwhelmed, it seems, with government interventions as far as the eye can see. All of that giving is mandated in the form of tax collection, and the misuse of those tax revenues is plain for anyone with eyes to see. Seldom do those tax monies reach the intended recipients without the government extracting a sizable portion. The Lord's way is to render help voluntarily.

If Harold B. Lee could see little children in need in his day and with scarce resources inspire a whole generation to find a way to bless the lives of others around them without government intervention, surely we can do it today out of our abundance.

Have You Been Validated?

My Uncle Bruce was a famed psychologist. He often spoke about the need for children to "have their ticket punched" by their parents. By that expression, he meant parents held in their hands the indispensable key to their children's existence. If parents believe their children have value and they are able to transmit that belief to them, children can go on to becoming worthwhile and productive adults. Withholding that validation sometimes proves ruinous to the development of children.

Like the train conductor in the Polar Express, "punching someone's ticket" by recognizing their innate worth as a marvelous human being, though flawed, is liberating. Let's be honest, we're all flawed beyond hope, we're all sinners, except as we are redeemed in the perfection of Christ through our sincere repentance and reliance upon Him.

The stories are legion of parents who neglect their children. Sometimes that neglect is overt and openly hostile. We've been watching a lot of Christmas movies this month where the theme has been the destructive separation that occurs in families when parents and children become estranged. We've witnessed so many contrived and seemingly petty plot lines this month. Of course, in all Christmas movies there must be conflict, resolution and happy endings. But sometimes in life it is not always so simple. Everyone in real life will tell you "it's complicated." The dynamics of human relations are always complicated, and by design we get ample experimental lab material to work on - that material comes to us in the form of parents, children, siblings and in-laws. Each of us has what sometimes seems like an inexhaustible supply, and we would wish for less if we could escape having to deal with "Uncle Harry" in our life. However, we are expected to experiment on each other until we, not they sometimes, get it right. It's Heavenly Father's plan for us.

And life is fleeting. We have all learned in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre that even the most innocent children can be snatched away in death in an instant. There are no guarantees when we live in a world where evil is ever-present before us.

Spouses are separated, become indifferent to each other and become strangers, even enemies of each other in some cases, when love at the altar was first sealed in their marriage vows. Husbands who were once loving and treated their wives well become angry and bitter. They are repeatedly warned by Church leaders that they will be held accountable for every tear their wife sheds that can be traced to him as the cause. Protecting and cherishing that most important of all human relationships with our spouses is paramount.

Parents often reject their offspring for a host of reasons. Once filled with hope and a positive outlook for their children, parents become disillusioned over the lack of "acceptable performance" in their children. And that is a highly subjective standard. It is hard sometimes for parents to communicate adequately what those standards look like, and confusion and resentment result. Instead of helping their children's development, they will often look outside their family circle for examples of other people's children who are excelling and achieving. To the detriment of their own children, parents will cite others as the shining example and sometimes without even knowing what they are doing destroy the self worth of their own children.

Children often look at their parents and see all the warts, the hypocrisy and the double standards their parents deploy to impress others at the expense of their integrity. Honesty, which earnest parents once sought to instill in their offspring, is sacrificed for one worthy contingency after another. Children lose confidence in parents, when all that was necessary was a proper teaching about the gospel of self-awareness and repentance. Admitting one's own flaws and demonstrating a desire to do better through deeds, not mere words, does much to bolster confidence of children in their parents.

Once again, that is a highly subjective standard. Most parents will fail in those judgments their children make about them. Children can judge harshly and unfairly, often failing to recognize pure motives where there was no intentional desire by the parents to harm them. What so often happens is that parents and children become estranged because of distance in miles from each other. It becomes easier and easier to stay away, to distance themselves from each other in ways that go beyond the miles of separation. Emotional support for one another erodes until there is no relationship left.

There are such simple acts of kindness we are willing to bestow upon total strangers, but withhold from our "less worthy" family members. For years, expressions of love and validation are sparingly dispensed if at all. Time stretches into years. You've all seen the movie plots. So many of them are based upon true stories.

In those true stories sometimes there is never a reconciliation at Christmas time or any other time. We mortals are prone to hold grudges, pass judgments, and write people off without so much as a preliminary hearing from them. We are more confident in our own judgments and decrees against those in our families than we ever are when we hear similar stories about total strangers. Why is that?

I can't help wondering if it is because Satan has as his stated purpose the work of destroying families in every way imaginable. The legalization of gay marriage is guaranteed to produce no offspring. From the moment Adam and Eve set foot in the garden of Eden, he has always known if he could separate the man from the woman he could thwart the plan of salvation, which is dependent upon "the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39 and Moses 4). In order to bring about immortality and eternal life, there must first be mortal life, created in partnership with God by a man and a woman united in the holy bonds of the new and everlasting covenant of marriage.

So in this effusive spirit of Christmas goodness and perfection, try validating those closest to you. Instead of making them pass some sort of litmus test of your own devising, try suspending judgment. Try forgiveness. Try saying the words, "Will you forgive me?" Or better, "I forgive you." Or if they've never heard you say it before, "I'm sorry." My mother used to refer to those as "magic words."

They are magic because they have healing power. They validate. They punch someone's ticket.

And when you say them, make sure there's a smile on your face.

It's December - "Are You Ready for Christmas?"

"Are you ready for Christmas?" The question reverberates around the globe every year at this time. "Ready for Christmas?" It seems the pressure mounts to reach for the perfect tree, the perfect decorations, the perfect present, the perfect recipe, the perfect Christmas dinner. In short, it's a time of magical fantasy dreams and wishes.

December at its end always looks different than at the beginning, doesn't it? We love Christmas at our house. Patsy has over a hundred nativity scenes, and she loves to put them all out all over the house. The preparations, the decorations, the lights, the tree, the advent candles, all of it represents an attempt to recapture the innocence of a perfect time in our childhood. It fills us with anticipation that at the darkest time of the year, the end of December, we may seek and find the Light of the world if we focus on Him. The aftermath of Christmas morning rarely lives up to its fullest potential on December 1st, it seems. But we try year after year to recapture the magical moments of youth. A simpler time, a simpler set of expectations, a simpler life.

As we grow older, Patsy and I have evolved into something from "Back to the Future." Alone, just the two of us in our large family home once filled with children, their friends, and non-stop parties, we have now defaulted to the Hallmark Channel for its barrage of cheesy Christmas perfection. I tease her that every Christmas movie plot involves a winning and predictable formula - two star-crossed lovers, conflict of some kind, resolution, kissing and always a scene at the end with snow gently falling all around. The funniest thing about the snow scene is that it happens even in Arizona and California. Perfect.

The embodiment of the Christmas ideal is the perfection we find in Jesus Christ. He is the only human being (half human, half God), who came to Earth and never succumbed to the wiles of Satan. Good and evil were with us from the beginning, when Satan rebelled against the Father's plan of happiness for His children and took "a third part" of Heavenly Father's spirit children down with him. Forever denied access to a physical body, the essential element of the plan, they continue to afflict and torment man. But in Christ we have the perfect Prototype of salvation.

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith posed the question in the Lectures on Faith: "We ask, then, where is the prototype? or where is the saved being? We conclude, as to the answer of this question, there will be no dispute among those who believe the Bible, that it is Christ; all will agree in this, that He is the prototype or standard of salvation." (Lecture 7).

In Christ we have the perfect example of how to live. We reach for it, we aspire unto it, yet as Paul reminds us, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23).

I believe it is in the reaching, the stretching, the yearning for perfection that we are sanctified and purified. Rather than become discouraged, disheartened or disappointed in our lack of achievement against the standard of perfection, we must embrace our fallen natures, acknowledge our weakness and our need for Christ. We must confess our stupidity on so many levels, rather than break ourselves against the wall of the law. So many within my sphere of influence have given up, left the Church, walked away from the attempt, claiming it's just futile, inconceivable and elusive beyond man's ability to comprehend. To which I respond, "That's exactly what we are supposed to see and understand about ourselves."

No great business enterprise prospered and succeeded without a vision of the impossible. Once the vision is set before us, the solutions begin to present themselves as we attempt to climb higher to our goals. Without the struggle, without the courage to try, without dependency upon a higher power than our own, nothing can be accomplished that is worthwhile. Growth comes in the stretching beyond our native abilities. New ideas present themselves we never would have contemplated but for the reaching higher toward the impossible vision we set for ourselves. Become a god someday myself? Impossible. But it's possible to believe it's possible.

Two of the titles we give to Jesus Christ are Savior and Redeemer. In December, as in no other month, we are reminded of these two titles. "Saved from what?" we might ask. Redeemed from what?

President Harold B. Lee

President Harold B. Lee's favorite chapter of scripture was 2 Nephi 9. In it, he said, was found a more comprehensive treatment of the plan of salvation than anywhere else in scripture. He quoted from it often during his lifetime. Let me give you a sample:

"O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment [see D&C 19:10]. O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it." (2 Nephi 9:19-20). "For the atonement satisfieth the demand of his justice upon all those who have not the law given unto them, that they are delivered from that awful monster, death and hell, and the devil, and the lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment; and they are restored to that God who gave them breath, which is the Holy One of Israel." (2 Nephi 9:26).

In those three verses we learn God is merciful to us because He knows us, really KNOWS us down to the cellular level. He delivers us in His mercy from the devil, death and hell. But we must call upon Him for deliverance, and reject the arm of flesh which has nothing to offer us eternally. He saves us and redeems us from those effects of the mortal chaos swirling around us that threatens to destroy us when we come unto Him, repent of our sins and embrace HIS perfection. Trusting in His unseen deliverance is much more difficult than reaching for more dollars in our bank account, but it is the requirement for salvation and redemption. It is reaching for perfection in Him.

We learn even those who inherit the telestial kingdom, a kingdom of glory, are "heirs of salvation" at their level. (D&C 76:88). We are instructed in that day, "These all shall bow the knee, and every tongue shall confess to him who sits on the throne forever and ever." (D&C 76:110).

President Joseph F. Smith

President Joseph F. Smith gives us just a glimpse of how comprehensive this work of saving and redeeming the souls of men really is:

"I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead. The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God. And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation." (D&C 138:57-59).

It is clear from the scriptures what is involved in becoming an "heir of salvation." This is as clear as words can possibly be: "And the resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul. And the redemption of the soul is through him that quickeneth all things, in whose bosom it is decreed that the poor and the meek of the earth shall inherit it." (D&C88:16-18).

To be redeemed, anything and everything is possible, even for people who have lost their way. One day, if they repent, they too will be redeemed and saved in the highest degrees of glory:

"And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal. And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowerth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance. And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption." (Alma 34:16).

Even in the spirit world beyond this life, the work of redemption moves ahead. Spirits of the dead who have departed this life continue to have their moral agency, they may embrace the gospel in its fulness, exercise faith unto repentance, accept the ordinances of the Lord's house including proxy baptism by immersion for the remission of their sins, the laying on of the hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the endowment and sealing ordinances that bind their families to them forever. Performed under the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, these saving ordinances assure men and women a place together as husband and wife in the Patriarchal Order of the priesthood if they are willing to be saved and redeemed under the merciful provisions offered to them by a loving Savior and Redeemer.

Helaman reminds us: "O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto the people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world." (Helaman 5:9).

And what did King Benjamin teach? That we must embrace our fallen natures and turn to Christ:

For behold, if the knowledge of the goodness of God at this time has awakened you to a sense of your nothingness, and your worthless and fallen state -
I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments,, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body -
I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, whichever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world.
And this is the means whereby salvation cometh. And there is none other salvation save this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions whereby man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you. (Mosiah 4:5-8).

I have written extensively in the past about the word "salvation" being the scriptural equivalent of "eternal life." Even as debilitating as it may seem to some during their mortal probation, the scriptures that speak of salvation and eternal life are extensive and comprehensive. We know very little about the terrestrial and the telestial kingdoms. I wonder if that isn't because our Savior and Redeemer is pointing us higher than we think we can climb. When we come unto Him and partake of His righteousness, we are "ready for Christmas" not just in December but every other day of the year too. (See Moroni 10:32-33).

So, the next time someone asks you, "Are you ready for Christmas?" how will you answer? I hope you'll always say, "Yes, now and forever!" And be sure to say, "Merry Christmas."

The Jar, by Dianne Bayles, Christmas 2011

[Editor's note: On May 17, 2012, Dianne updated and revised this original post]:

I have always been a sponge for a sweet, sappy, touching Christmas story.  Whether they are true or fiction, I love Christmas stories, books, and movies.  Often they seem a bit far-fetched, but I still revel in them and the spirit of Christmas that they convey.  Snuggling on the couch or in my bed to read and share is among my favorite traditions I take pleasure in during the Christmas season.  We have enjoyed Christmas miracles in the past and along our journey.  Another Christmas miracle at least three years in the making has come to pass this year.

The Christmas of 2008 found our family depleted of all financial resources.  My husband had been without a job in his chosen field in which he holds a Masters Degree, for nearly two years.  Together we worked five different jobs and could barely pay our house payment.  Carrying our own health insurance premiums and just keeping current on our utilities had eaten our savings. Our food storage had sustained us with the help from my in laws’ garden and many neighbors, friends, and brother, who, just as the freezer was empty would miraculously bring a box or several coolers full of meat that they couldn’t use and wondered if we could.  One time, it was a loaf of white bread (a huge treat for the kids who were tired of whole wheat) and two cans of tuna fish.  Countless times, we found in the mailbox, taped to the door, under the front mat and tied to the doorknob envelopes of money.

Sometimes notes were attached of encouragement, but always anonymous.  One time it was a twenty-dollar bill with a note written in a shaky hand (obviously from one of our very elderly friends).  Another time it was a back-to-school kit with gift cards from a sister’s family that lived far away, or a check from a sister that said, “I love you”.  At first our hearts were filled with pride, not wanting to accept the loving offerings, or believing that they were needed, but our hearts were softened, humbled, and filled with hope.  There were so many gifts left that we gave up trying to figure out who our secret friends were and simply offered prayers of gratitude.

On Christmas Eve we returned home from my family's Ranch and having been with my extended family, we were filled with the spirit of the Savior after acting out the nativity and singing around the piano, concluding with family prayer.  My heart was filled with love and tenderness.  We had been able to buy a present for each child with the Christmas dollars from my in laws.  To our amazement, on the front porch we found three large garbage bags (obviously from three different secret Santas).  We felt the love of those around us even though we had no idea who had left the gifts.  We felt the hand of the Lord in our lives as others blessed us.

Thankfully, six months later, my husband was once again employed in his field of expertise, making a steady income.  Money was and has continued to be tight as we raise our six children and try to pay off accumulated debt and rebuild our savings.  As a family we decided that more than anything we wanted to save our money and visit Nauvoo.  We started a Nauvoo fund in a large pickle jar.  We taped it shut to prevent the temptation to dip into it.  Each time the kids received Christmas or birthday dollars, they went into the Nauvoo jar.  Grandparents and great grandparents made donations occasionally.  The children were amazed at how long it took to accumulate.  After a year we had saved about $150.  We knew we needed a lot more to be able to visit Nauvoo.  As a family we talked about our anticipation and excitement. We predicted when we would have enough money to go on our dream trip.  We dropped our change in and added a few bills slowly but steadily.

In the spring of 2009, a close friend, father of six was killed instantly in a car accident.  Three of the children attended our local elementary school with our children.  Their youngest and one of our daughters were best friends and initially brought our families together.   As an outreach of love and support the teachers and children of the school did a penny drive to collect as much pocket change to help the family.  Our little children asked if they could take our jar of change, our Nauvoo jar and donate it to help our friends.  Everyone instantly agreed.  Our mite was nothing compared to the desperate need of this family who we love.  We started over to collect pennies and change in our pickle jar for our Nauvoo trip.

The Christmas season of 2010 was approaching quickly.  Our Nauvoo jar had continued to fill, but we still had a long way to go before reaching our goal.  As I went to church the first week of December, I heard a devastating story of our home teacher’s daughter.  She was a young mother of three small children.  She was battling cancer for the third time.  The doctors had very little hope for her recovery and her response to further treatment.  I was told that this sweet mother was very weak, but her desire was to take her children and husband to Disneyland.

I went home and told my family the story.  We talked about what we could do to help them. The father of this young mother was the first home teacher we ever had that came regularly.  At the time of my husband’s unemployment, he and his saintly wife served our family selflessly, brought us hope, love and kindness in their quiet, humble way.  It was suggested by our 14 year-old daughter that we give them our Nauvoo jar.  All but one of our children thought that was the perfect idea.  I knew we all had to agree if we were to give our precious Nauvoo fund.  I prayed in my heart that I would know what to say to my reluctant child.  I promised our children that if we did this with pure hearts and the desire to bless this family that we didn’t really know, that it would multiply and come back to us in ways that we couldn’t comprehend at that moment.  Tears were shed, hearts were softened and it was agreed that we would give our jar to our home teacher and his wife for their daughter.

We invited them to dinner that night.  Following dinner, unprompted, our five-year old daughter went to the cupboard, retrieved the jar and gave it to our home teacher.  They were overcome with emotion and tears as we gave them our offering.  They didn’t know what it was, other than a jar of change.  At first they didn’t want to accept it.  As each of our children, one by one, told them to take it to their daughter, they were gracious and grateful.  In the scheme of overwhelming medical bills and a terminal disease, our little jar of change wasn’t significant in financial support or solution but we hoped they would feel our love, support and more importantly that Heavenly Father was aware of them.  We were grateful for the opportunity to share what little we could to lighten their burden.

The next day we started another Nauvoo pickle jar, penny by penny.  It seemed that rather than multiplying as I had promised my children it would, it was taking longer to accumulate.  October came and the kids asked if they could dump it out and count the money.  I was a bit hesitant. I knew there wasn’t much in it.  They did and there was just over $200.  They were so excited that we had collected that much.

Just after that, my oldest nephew received his mission call.  He is a young man who had overcome great difficulty and challenge in his life.  His parents have as well and were in the middle of the greatest financial crisis of their lives.  We decided we would contribute $100 of our fund to his mission.  There was not even a question in any of our minds if that was what we wanted to do.

Weeks after that, around Thanksgiving, we realized another family member was in need.  They had generously helped us when we needed it during our unemployment and we wanted to help them.  We sent them our last $100 from our Nauvoo jar.  It wasn’t much, not near enough to really help them, but we wanted them to know how much we loved them and they lived so far away that we couldn’t even visit them, hug them, play, or lift their spirits.

It was now two weeks before Christmas of 2011.  I had done most of the shopping and purchased “knock offs” at a much lower price of the items on my children’s wish lists.  I still had the Nauvoo trip in mind for a gift for Christmas.  I stayed strictly within my budget and spent the least amount that I ever had.  I started my research and realized even with the frugal gifts I had purchased, we wouldn’t be able to make up the funds from the emptied jars.  We’d just have to wait.  I had forgotten about the promise I had made my children that if we gave what we could with pure hearts that it would be multiplied and come back to us.  That remembrance came as my three oldest children bounded in the door from mutual with a green gift bag that had been left on the front porch.  The rest of the family had been home all evening, and even answered the door several times to receive popcorn and homemade treats from the neighbors with no notice of the green bag.

We opened the green bag and found inside a jar filled with silver coins and the book Christmas Jars, by Jason Wright.  I was overcome with emotion; my family is used to that.  As we read the book out loud, I realized that the promise that I had made to my children was beginning to come to fruition.  As we read the book together my heart was touched as each of our children made connections of our experiences of giving, spreading the light of the Savior with good deeds, secret acts, and sharing our jar in different ways.

The night after we finished reading the book, I found a black garbage bag as from Santa himself, in our garage filled with the gifts that my children had asked Santa.  It had been left inside the side door.  No note or explanation, simply there filling Christmas wishes.  Each gift was exactly what children were wishing for.  Santa was the only person who knew, they had not told anyone else their wishes.  If I took back the gifts that I had purchased and received the money back and added the Christmas dollars from Grammy and Grandad, it would bring our Nauvoo jar more than double of what we had given away from our collection of coins. The promise that I made to our children of receiving back what we had given had indeed multiplied in miraculous ways through others.  Our dream of visiting Nauvoo is a reality.

I have been reminded again of Heavenly Father’s plan. He is in charge and oh so mindful of each of us.  As we strive to bless and lift others, He never stops blessing each of us.  We can never truly pay Him back for the most precious gift of His Son, His Plan; we will never be caught up or ahead of the blessings.  My greatest desire is to serve Him and be His instrument in blessing His children.  I have certainly been blessed by many of His.  How grateful I am for the miracle of our jar, through the hands and hearts of many.

Epilogue:  

I wrote this story of our Christmas Jar the week before Christmas 2011.  I shared it with my parents, my husband’s parents and my grandparents asking them not to share it with anyone else until after Christmas.  My husband and I wrote a treasure hunt to give to our children on Christmas morning that ended with the filled jar and this story.  Our oldest read the story to her siblings as we were overcome with the blessings that the Lord had given us and the amazing Christmas spirit and giving.  They had not realized that the multiplicity that I promised had come to pass.  By the time Christmas evening came, our jar had doubled twice more.  I knew the reality of how much our trip would cost, we were still a long way off what it would really take to make the trek to Nauvoo, but we determined we would go for spring break.

January ended with a two-day stay in Primary Children's Hospital with our youngest with a random Staph infection in his toe.  I paid cash for the ER and all the bills as they came, not something we generally have budgeted for.  I was accepting every cleaning and sewing job that came my way and was stashing the extra dollars hoping to increase our chances of going to Nauvoo.  We were getting closer all the time but still had a way to go.

My husband is really physically active and a triathlete.  He had mentioned on occasion that his knee had been bothering him since Christmas.  After an appointment with a doctor, it was determined that he needed surgery.  Again, I paid cash as we went to the doctor and the hospital, thinking I was taking care of the bills the day of the treatment.   While he was recovering (the two days I could get him to stay down) we really got serious about Nauvoo.  He researched on the computer the different places to stay.  We booked our rooms, made appointments to visit the Nauvoo temple, mapped out our route and planned our meals, etc.  We were totally committed to the days we would stay in Nauvoo, as we had to pay 50% up front to stay at a pioneer cabin.

We enjoyed General Conference weekend as we prepared to leave the following Thursday for our trip.  That week we received more donations from our parents and another anonymous gift that came in the form of a plastic Easter egg taped to the front door with a note and cash.   In the mailbox on Wednesday, I received not such happy news in the form of medical bills from each hospital in the amount due of $500 each.  Our insurance deductible had changed to $500 per person per year.  It was a blow!  We did not have $1000 to pay the bills.  Immediately thoughts came that we should not go.  How would we pay these bills?  I decided that I would not think about it and I would deal with it when we got home.

Thursday night we were off on our adventure!  This was the first trip we had ever taken our kids on and we were filled with gratitude for all that had led us to this point.  As we offered a prayer of gratitude and asked for safety and peace to accompany us; we were all touched by the spirit of love and anticipation.  We drove as far as my brother’s home in Green River, Wyoming, and stayed the night there.

Friday we drove to Mount Rushmore and drove as far as Sioux City, South Dakota.  Saturday we got up early and stopped at the Winter Quarters temple, visitor center, and pioneer cemetery.  It was a powerful experience as I realized that my 5th great-grandfather was born there, and lived.  There are so many babies that died.  The temple itself is magnificent.  The stained glass windows are breath-taking.  Onward on the journey as we made PP&J in the car, and only stopped for gas and potty breaks to arrive in Nauvoo, which we did at 5pm that night.  We drove straight to the temple.  What a feeling!  We checked into our pioneer cabin (which was so fun in and of itself!) and got settled in for what was to be the most amazing experiences we have had to this point.

Easter Sunday we went to church and started visiting the sites of historic Nauvoo.  Each place the missionaries shared the stories of the people who had lived, run businesses and built the temple and the city.  A gospel principle was shared.  We felt the spirit.  Monday we continued to see historic Nauvoo, went on a wagon and carriage ride and absorbed the amazing pioneer spirit.  We made some special connections with the couple missionaries.  At each spot, the people we interacted with were divinely placed.  Because we were there in the off-season, we had their full attention, private, intimate tours everywhere we went.  It was everything we hoped it would be!

Tuesday was our temple day.  What sacred experiences we had!  I could have stayed in the temple for a week.  The craftsmanship was unlike anything I’ve ever seen, the spirit undeniably special, the gratitude for the restoration of Priesthood keys on the earth was tangible.  The spirit I felt and we felt as a family was building with each experience.  How grateful we felt.

The air was chilly Wednesday morning as we checked out of our pioneer cabin, and prepared for our last day in Nauvoo.  We got an early start as we went to the Nauvoo Grove.  There are quotes on plaques from journals and testimonies of the Prophet Joseph that bathed us in the spirit of the faith and testimony of Jesus Christ that was written in the hearts of the early saints.  Following the grove our next stop was the Joseph Smith sites that are owned by the Community of Christ.  They own the original homestead of Joseph and Emma, the Nauvoo House, the Mansion House, and the Red Brick Store; they also have and visitor center/museum.  We learned and saw much and were given a lot of information.  There was a different feeling, a lack of burning spirit, than we had experienced in the other places in Nauvoo.  My children noticed the difference and mentioned it throughout the tour.  I was grateful that they could feel the lack of the spirit that they are used to feeling.

Following the Joseph Smith sites, we traveled to Carthage Jail about 23 miles from Nauvoo.  As I made PP&J sandwiches, our daughter read to us an account of the 21 days leading up to the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum in Carthage Jail.  It was literal accounts of the eye-witnesses and other members of the church.  The spirit was present and reverent as we drove.  It set a perfect stage for what we were about to experience.

As we opened the doors to the car in the parking lot at the visitor center in Carthage, the spirit washed over us.  We began the walk to the visitor center reading the granite markers that detail the first vision and testimonies of the Prophet.  I was overcome with the spirit.

We were able to have a private tour, just our family of the jail.  How blessed we were to have time in the upper room to sit and feel the power of the spirit testify to each of us that what we thought we knew, we know we know.  It was a sacred event for each of us.  We had the opportunity to sit and ponder and share our testimonies with each other.

I have always had a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I knew that he was the prophet of the restoration, that he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove, that he was taught by angels, that he translated the gold plates that is the Book of Mormon, that the heavens were opened to him to restore all things in Christ’s Church to the earth, and that he was martyred in this very jail of Carthage.  I knew that before, but what an incredible thing to be able to see and partake of the spirit in such a way.  I am so grateful for the experiences and the testimony that I am blessed with and was strengthened.  I am equally grateful that my children were able to have faith building, testimony fortifying, love enduring experiences and feelings that will be burned in their hearts and mine forever.

Friday, we visited Far West, Adam-ondi-Ahman, Liberty Jail and as the crowning jewel of our trip we went through the Kansas City Temple open house.  These sites are particularly reverent and sacred.  We had felt the spirit along our journey, but what a tremendous way to end, especially for our little children who aren’t old enough to go into the Nauvoo temple, to walk from room to room in a holy house of the Lord.  Each room was more exquisite, more beautiful, more full of light and symbol.  It was the perfect way to end our journey, the reminders of covenants, eternity, sacrifice, love and all the other gifts we have and had been given.

As we returned to “real life”, the after-glow of our experiences has lingered.  We have an increase of love and commitment to each other.  The medical bills were still here and I really didn’t know how we would pay them.  We had paid cash all along the way for gas, lodging, food, souvenirs and everything.  I was sure we had spent what we had.  A couple of days went by.  My husband was going to go to Costco and wondered if I needed anything.  I told him that I better check out our account and double-check what we had spent before he spent any money.

To my amazement, we had $1000 left.  How could that be?  We had accounted for every penny, and yet, we had just enough to cover the medical bills.  The multiplicity and out pouring of blessings continue as our every need is met.  Not just our temporal needs, but our spiritual needs.  I am grateful for each mite, each sacrifice, each blessing, each miracle.

Others may say that it all came together as it should or by coincidence, but I choose to acknowledge His hand in it all.  Every miracle, small or big, each act of secret service and all gifts is because of Him, the giver of all.

Shepherds in Israel at the Gates of Christmas

Christmas always reminds me of the years I served as a bishop. I was an eyewitness then to the lovingkindness of my ward members for one another. As a steward of the sacred fast offering funds donated to the Church, a bishop is often the one who stands in the breech when all other help flees from those most in need.

To announce His birth as the Shepherd of Israel, the angel appeared first to shepherds in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. Today's modern under-shepherds are the bishops of Israel who succor and nurture the sheep in the wide expanse of this world.

Fast offerings are donated monthly on the first Sunday of each month. We observe the fast for a twenty-four hour period beginning on Saturday. The cost of the two meals skipped is suggested as an offering to assist the poor and the needy who live among us. The bishops of the Church are encouraged to "seek out" the poor and needy, and not to wait until they land on his doorstep. It is a sobering and humbling assignment, as any bishop will attest.

It seems the Christmas season brings more stories as the years unfold. Of course, the best stories never are told. They remain the sacred and secret domain of bishops and their flocks. But this past week another story is added to my personal lexicon. I share it here, preserving the anonymity of those involved.

I had a phone call from a former co-worker with whom I hadn't spoken in months. He said, "I was speaking with someone the other day who suggested I call you. I need some of your wisdom. I've gotten myself into a situation, and I need your help. Could we meet for breakfast tomorrow?"

At breakfast my friend poured out a story I had not anticipated. He and his wife had encountered some health issues since we had last spoken. They had gotten behind on their bills, and he had taken out some payday loans to meet their obligations. He had not told his wife, not wanting to alarm her. The exorbitant interest payments were now consuming all their income, and the rent was due the following day. They had just moved from one distant city to another nearer his work, and had done some painting to enable themselves to get into a new rental home. Now the first month's rent was due and they had no way to pay it.

We discussed possible sources of help. He had consulted a bankruptcy attorney last year, but they hadn't taken any steps in that direction. His sister, a CPA, was the executor of his mother's estate, but he feared she would treat him harshly when she heard the predicament he was in. There seemed to be no options. He had requested a consolidation loan from his bank, but they had declined his request because his credit had been impaired.

I suggested three alternatives to explore. 1) Re-connect with the bankruptcy attorney to see if she could help stop the freight train of the escalating interest payments due to the payday lenders; 2) call his sister to see if there might be any way she could think of to help him, and 3) call your new bishop. I also recommended that he not hide their situation any longer from his wife.

My friend reminded me he was not a member of the Church, but my response was, "Everyone in this world has a bishop, most of them just haven't met each other yet. Your wife was a member of the Church at one time, wasn't she?" He confirmed she had been. But he hastened to add he had been a lay minister in another church before he had moved to Utah and met his wife. He had to give up his ministry to accept a job here, and he wouldn't even know how or who he should contact.

I took a moment to explain how to find his bishop through the Church's website. He wrote down my instructions carefully. I had a chance to explain that like him, bishops in the Church are lay ministers, called for a period of time by their leaders from among their congregations, then released to go back into the ranks from which they had been called. I explained a little about fast offerings, and the purposes for which bishops may use those member donations as they feel inspired to do so. I told him without even knowing who he was, I was certain his bishop would stand ready and able with resources to assist him.

As we parted, I was gripped with a moment of fear. What had I just done? I didn't even know who his bishop was! How could I make such an audacious promise and assume it would play out smoothly the way I hoped it would?

Then the Spirit whispered to me, chiding me a little and speaking peace to my heart, "You were a bishop once, David. You know how I work, don't you? Have a little faith."

Later in the day, I finally had a chance to check my voicemail. There was a message from my friend. He said he had done as I had suggested, found his new ward and his bishop. He had called the bishop, who heard his story with an empathetic ear, and suggested that they meet that morning at his office at the ward building. In part, he said to me in the message, "I went over my scenario with him, and he's going to help me with the rent. I'm so glad I came to you. Thank you for listening to me and for your wisdom and your advice."

Honestly, the Lord makes us all smarter than we are if we listen to His spirit directing us and we act on those impressions. He said at the end of his message, "I should know God is in charge. He's proven it again to me this morning. Thank you." Our part is to humble ourselves. He manifests His love for each of His children without judgment or reservation.

I thought of pennies, nickels and dollars that comprise the monthly fast offerings of the faithful saints, and I felt to give thanks once again for those who give in the same spirit our Father in Heaven gives. It is all about His love for His children.

President Gordon B. Hinckley

I echo with heartfelt gratitude the words of President Gordon B. Hinckley, who offered these insights about bishops in a General Conference address:

"I stand in humble gratitude and respect and admiration for the bishops of this Church. In the most dire of circumstances, I watched them in La Lima, Honduras. I spoke with them, shook their hands, loved them. How thankful I am for these men who, without regard for their own comfort, give of their time, of their wisdom, of their inspiration in presiding over our wards throughout the world. They receive no compensation other than the love of their people. There is no rest for them on the Sabbath, nor very much at other times. They are the ones closest to the people, best acquainted with their needs and circumstances.

The requirements of their office are today as they were in the days of Paul, who wrote to Timothy:

"A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
"Not given to wine, no striker [that is, not a bully or a violent person], … not a brawler, not covetous" (1 Timothy 3:2–3).

In his letter to Titus, Paul adds that "a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; … Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers" (Titus 1:7, 9).

I suspect there will be a "sequel" to this formative introduction. How marvelous that a bishop stands ready to help the constituency of his flock, even those who have not as yet been "branded" as one of his own. . .

For, in fact, we are all His.

Sometimes we are the recipients, other times we are the givers, but He always ministers to our needs through His under-shepherds, the bishops of Israel.

Today, somewhere in Sunnyvale, California, one of our sons-in-law was ordained as a new bishop, the first to serve in our family's next generation. I know he will be blessed as the mantle rests upon his shoulders and he takes up his new role as a shepherd in Israel to the flock where he is assigned.

The gates of Christmas are flung open wide for all who will come to enter therein. . .

Peace on Earth

I heard an earnest and sincere appeal in a sacrament meeting invocation for "peace on earth" yesterday.  This time of year we hear it more often than any other because we are reminded of "glad tidings of great joy" and "peace on earth, goodwill to men."

Joseph Smith

It seems I can never pass a Christmas Day, however, without being reminded and thinking deeply on the content of what I call "The Christmas Day Revelation" of December 25, 1832.  (See Section 87, The Doctrine and Covenants).  Ironically, on the day we celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace (even though it was really April 6th), it is designated as a "revelation and prophecy on war," given through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

It is only eight short verses, but they are packed with implications stretching down through the hallways of time since that day into our lives today.

Benjamin Franklin

The establishment of a federal government in the United States of America intentionally bypassed the question of slavery.  Many, including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were seeking abolition of slavery when they met with others to write the Constitution.  Of the four, Franklin was the most adamant about it.  (It's well known that Washington and Jefferson as "Southerners" were slave owners, but neither liked or advocated the practice).  Franklin and the others later relented "in order to form a more perfect union."  To get agreement on "most" provisions they set aside the slavery question for a later day.  They knew they had to get agreement, and soon, to a basic framework that would work to replace the wholly inadequate "Articles of Confederation."  Washington fretted about it from the moment the Revolutionary War ended.  So the abolition of slavery, the major sticking point, was delayed and deferred.

By the fall and winter of 1832, political discourse in the United States was dominated by something known as the "Nullification Crisis."  There remained tensions among the various states who had framed the Constitution.  The Southern tier of states felt threatened by the North.  The locus of the controversy was South Carolina.  There was a protective tariff enacted by Congress in 1828, known angrily in the South as the "Tariff of Abominations."  Like their former masters in England had done, this tariff with enough votes in the Northern states to pass it, imposed heavy duties on foreign manufactured goods coming into America.  That obviously favored and protected the economy of the industrial North, but it worked against the agrarian South and its slave economy. 

In addition to the economic problems, the South was becoming increasingly aware of a growing antislavery movement in the North.  In order to protect itself from these threats, South Carolina passed something called an "Ordinance of Nullification."

Recently in Virginia, using many of the logical arguments involving the misinterpretation of the Commerce Clause in the Constitution, a federal judge declared the "individual mandate" embedded in the health care legislation that passed last year to be unconstitutional.  Similar arguments are being made today in Arizona and Texas about border control.  Not unlike the current debate and the court actions aimed at blunting the Obamacare legislation today, this 1832 ordinance was based on states rights philosophy which claimed the following:

• Sovereignty resided in the states.
• The states had created the federal government.
• The states could decide if a law was constitutional.
• If it was not, the federal law could be declared null and void in that state.

So, on November 24, 1832, a special convention in South Carolina declared the Tariff of 1828 null and void. This explosive situation nearly caused a war in 1832. (You can read about it here: William W. Freehling, Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816-1836 [New York: Harper and Row, 1966]).

So it was out of this background of events from which sprang Joseph Smith's Prophecy on War.  It's a fair question how much Joseph Smith really knew about the details of the political controversy.  On the day the revelation was given (again, it was Christmas Day, 1832), we get this glimpse from the History of the Church:
 
"Appearances of troubles among the nations became more visible this season than they had previously been since the Church began her journey out of the wilderness. The ravages of the cholera were frightful in almost all the large cities on the globe. The plague broke out in India, while the United States, amid all her pomp and greatness, was threatened with immediate dissolution. The people of South Carolina, in convention assembled (in November), passed ordinances, declaring their state a free and independent nation; and appointed Thursday, the 31st day of January, 1833, as a day of humiliation and prayer, to implore almighty God to vouchsafe His blessings, and restore liberty and happiness within their borders. President Jackson issued his proclamation against this rebellion, called out a force sufficient to quell it, and implored the blessings of God to assist the nation to extricate itself from the horrors of the approaching and solemn crisis."  (HC 1:301).

Eleven years later, Joseph Smith was still interested in this subject. In Section 130 of The Doctrine and Covenants he wrote:  "I prophesy, in the name of the Lord God, that the commencement of the difficulties which will cause much bloodshed previous to the coming of the Son of Man will begin in South Carolina. It will probably arise through the slave question. This a voice declared to me, while I was praying earnestly on the subject, December 25th, 1832."  (D&C 130:12-13).
 
It's obvious the Prophet was aware of political events, and he knew slavery was emerging as an outgrowth of the nullification issue over the tariff.  So he did what he always did -- he studied it out in his own mind and "prayed earnestly" about it. 

There is a definition of "prophet" in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, defining a prophet as, (a) a person who speaks by divine inspiration, and (b) a predictor.  Joseph Smith is cited as the example with this prophecy.

So here's what happened:  He made this prophecy 28 years, 3 months and 17 days before the event happened.

His first prediction was that war would occur between the states. Of course, this war did take place and is called The Civil War.  Between 1861 and 1865 a bitter war raged in the United States. It remains the bloodiest and most costly war in terms of lives in our American history.  (The best single-volume source is perhaps J. G. Randall and David Herbert Donald, The Civil War and Reconstruction [Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Health and Company, 1969]).

Joseph Smith prophesied that South Carolina would take the initiative. On April 12, 1861, the Confederate forces laid siege to Fort Sumter.  This fort, filled with garrisoned United States troops, was located in the harbor off Charleston, South Carolina.  South Carolina definitely forced the issue.

He further prophesied this war would bring death to many (click the link above).  The Prophet foretold and accurately described the nature of the antagonists in this conflict. He specifically stated the North would fight the South.  This part of the prophecy is especially interesting because West also opposed East in the 1830s.  It could have gone another way, but Joseph Smith declared it would be a war of North against South.

The precision is interesting because Joseph Smith said the Southern states would call upon Great Britain and other nations for aid.  Once war broke out the South did send commissioners to various European nations to seek diplomatic recognition and military aid.  The South sent representatives to Great Britain, France, Holland and Belgium. The 1832 prophecy of Joseph Smith was fulfilled precisely.


Mohandas Gandhi



Nelson Mandela

Joseph Smith's prophecy on war was not limited to the American Civil War. It also included wars in other nations. In fact, the prophecy declared that "war will be poured out upon all nations." Subsequent events have proven he was accurate.  The distinctive reference to "slaves shall rise up against their masters" has been fulfilled again and again since then, the overthrow of dictators ever since being in the first rank of those prophecies.  Mohandas Gandhi in his struggle through civil disobedience for independence in India, or the Nelson Mandela saga in the abolition of apartheid in South Africa immediately come to mind as two examples.  Liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein is another more recent example (with a big assist from America, of course).

Orson Pratt

Leaders of the Church were fully aware of Joseph Smith's prophecy concerning the Civil War as early as the 1830s. Orson Pratt recalled:  "When I was a boy, I traveled extensively in the United States and the Canadas, preaching this restored gospel.  I had a manuscript copy of the Revelation [on war], which I carried in my pocket, and I was in the habit of reading it to the people among whom I traveled and preached."  (JD, 18:224).

Section 87 also provides other doctrinal insights.  It discusses the Lamanites, or the American Indians. These people are referred to in this revelation as "the remnants."  The revelation tells us that the Indians would become angry and "vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation" (v. 5).  (See Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, 4:334-35; and The Millennial Messiah, 242, 248).

* * *

 
SECTION 87

Revelation and prophecy on war, given through Joseph Smith, December 25, 1832. History of the Church 1:301-2.

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls;
2 And the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place.
3 For behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other nations; and then war shall be poured out upon all nations.
4 And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshaled and disciplined for war.
5 And it shall come to pass also that the remnants who are left of the land will marshal themselves, and shall become exceedingly angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation.
6 And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations;
7 That the cry of the saints, and of the blood of the saints, shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies.
8 Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen.

* * *

The concluding verse is perhaps our key to understanding.  While we yearn for peace on earth, there will be no peace until He comes again.  The Middle East combatants will not suddenly sit down one day soon and devise a "two-state" solution for the border conflicts extant in Israel.  Afghanistan and Iran will not one day suddenly devise a truce with terrorist factions determined to overthrow freedom in every country on earth.  Tin pot dictators like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro will not suddenly reverse course, in fact they are showing renewed signs of strengthening their grip on their respective countries.  The former Soviet Union today shows greater belligerence than ever before with little sign of continuing its once-defined course toward greater individual freedom.  China, while peaceful today, has an unruly step-child in North Korea.  Wars and their persistent rumors will continue.  Threats mounted by "progressives" from within America's borders to eliminate Constitutionally-defined freedoms continue to foment.

The antidote in the revelation for all of this is "stand in holy places and be not moved."  Holy places can be defined in many ways:  the stakes of Zion, dedicated buildings like chapels, temples, etc., homes, and wherever a "holy person" resides.  There may be no peace on earth in 2010, but there can be peace in our hearts, knowing we are true to the covenants we have made, true to the God of heaven, and true to His leaders whom He has sent among us.

As a bishop, I once heard a young man declare to me in defiance, "No one has the right to judge my heart, and especially NOT YOU!!"  Many who are not at peace in their hearts find it difficult to submit to constituted priesthood leaders and to accept them as the Lord's servants.  They believe they know better than the humble "sent servants" God has put in the judgment seats in modern Israel.  To submit to their inspired callings is to find the peace we seek because it aligns with His mind and will.  Increasingly, we will only find the peace in this world we seek when we put ourselves in alignment with His servants.  I have written extensively about this in the past. 

We have been promised peace, not world peace, but only on this wise, as found in John 14:27:

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth,
give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.