~Janaemanite
It’s Christmas time. The time when we hopefully allow our hearts to soften and our thoughts to turn toward The Savior, as we remember a tiny, perfect child who was born to a virgin mother and would go on to save the whole of humanity. It is the greatest miracle in the history of this world, and He is the grandest gift we will ever be presented with.
As we teach our young children about the sacred scene of that night so long ago, we of course describe the wise men who traveled from far away lands bearing gifts for the Christ Child. It is both these 3 treasures from the orient, as well as, I would say, the immense gift of the precious baby Himself, and the all-encompassing, incomprehensible gift of His atonement, that has spurred the tradition of giving and receiving presents at this special time of year.
When viewed in it’s simplest form, this is truly a beautiful tradition. It is an annual opportunity to express love to those you hold dear with a physical, tangible offering of your appreciation that they are a part of your life.
Obviously we can, and for the most part do, take the gift-giving practice way beyond the straightforward concept of a simple offering of love. Instead, we stress about the perfect thing, the amount of money spent, the total number of gifts to find, the shopping malls, the people everywhere, the lack of Martha Stewart wrapping skills. We list out the children, the spouse, the parents, the siblings, the coworkers, the bosses, the friends, the preschool teachers, primary teachers, and home teachers, the neighbors, the less fortunate, and even the mailman and paperboy, who all “need” a gift for Christmas.
I will offer no ideas, no pearls of wisdom, for how to overcome this particularly stressful aspect of Christmas time, because honestly, I have none. Seriously, let me know if you come up with something, because anything that increases my capacity to accomplish the task of “gifting” right now would be greatly appreciated. I have, however, very recently been reflecting on a few gifts that have already been given, and it has allowed me to remain focused (for the most part) on the spiritual side of December. Those gifts already given, are gifts of the spirit.
Not only did our Heavenly Father give us air to breathe, people to love, a Savior to atone for our sins, and simply put… everything, he also gave each one of us a very specific set of spiritual gifts. What exactly are gifts of the spirit? These are the unseen, and often times unknown abilities that make up a very large portion of who we are as individuals.
To some are given the gift of faith, the gift of healing, the gift of service. To others are given the gift of compassion, the spirit of discernment, the interpretation of tongues. There is a whole host of sacred gifts that our creator saw fit to bestow upon us as His children, in hopes that we would be strong, would serve those around us, and would eventually return to live with Him again.
You can find them in the scriptures, (D&C 46, 1 Corinthians 12) or if you’d like to know a few of the ones given directly to you, dust off your copy of your patriarchal blessing and read about the person you were before you came to this Earth, about the plans he has for your life now, and about the immense spiritual potential that lies within you.
At this special time of year, let’s maybe focus just a little time and energy on discovering and/or remembering a few of the precious gifts we’ve already been given; gifts wrapped in sacredness, and tags upon which are written our very own names with the love of our Father in Heaven. Merry Christmas.