Dec. 16

Dec.16

Jesus came to lift our burdens. One of the heaviest burdens we carry is that of hate. In teaching us to forgive, the Lord set us free.

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 18:21-22Matthew 6:14-153 Nephi 12:44

SUGGESTION: Try to forgive someone who has wronged you. If appropriate go to him today and be reconciled.

SONG: " Did You Think To Pray? " Hymns, Page 140


Little White Stocking, The


Jennifer had volunteered for the enormous task of going through her grandmother's things. She purposely left the Christmas boxes for last. As she sat there in the pile of her grandmother's treasured Christmas decorations she noticed the small white stocking. As long as Jennifer could remember the white stocking had hung in the center of her grandmother's mantel. In the midst of all the other Christmas finery it seemed rather plain. Once she had even asked her grandmother about it and why something so plain deserved such a place of prominence among all the other ornaments. Her grandmother's simple reply was only that it was her gift to the Christ Child. And so there it hung year after year. Jennifer almost asked once what gift her grandmother had given to the Christ Child as the stocking looked empty, but she was just a child and the thought was quickly replaced with the wonder and excitement of Christmas. Jennifer folded the tissue paper back over the stocking. This she decided would go into the discard pile. She laid it on top of the box with the few other Christmas decorations that would be thrown out. She took one last look at the stocking and noticed that there appeared to be something inside. Jennifer removed the paper and slowly slipped her hand into the stocking. Gently she pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper. As she opened the paper she immediately recognized her grandmother's flawless handwriting. On the top in bold firm letters was written "MY GIFT TO MY SAVIOR." Jennifer continued to read the paper, which expressed her grandmother's love for her savior, for the wonderful life, sweet caring family, and blessings of the Gospel she had enjoyed for so many years. Jennifer felt her heart quicken as she continued to read:

What gift could I give to the Son of God?
What gift could convey the abundance of love?
What earthly gift that is mine to give,
Would be worthy a life so perfectly lived?
The gift that I hold here deep in my heart.
To give at this Christmas time, a new life to start.
I'll give Him my love, and a promise true,
to become more like Him not just at Christmas.
But the whole year through.

Tears flooded Jennifer's eyes as she thought about the wonderful life her grandmother had lived, about all the good she had done, all the service she so lovingly had given to everyone. She thought how much like the Savior her grandmother always tried to be, and how much the Savior had blessed her own life. Jennifer gently removed the plain little white stocking from the discard pile and packed it in the box with the things she would be taking home. Later that evening, still filled with the warmth generated by the note written by her grandmother, Jennifer gathered her family and announced that they would be starting a new family tradition. From the tissue paper she took out the little white stocking and hung it in the center of the mantle. "This," she explained to her family was the Saviors stocking, white and pure as He is. Inside this stocking we will place our gifts to the Savior for this Christmas, and next year we will open them and read them. Feeling love and a deep gratitude for her grandmother, for her simple faith and desire to truly love her Savior, Jennifer wrote her own Christmas gift for her Savior and gently placed it in the Little White Stocking. By placing your own gifts to the Savior in this Little White Stocking.