I am A Child of God--Christmas Spirit- Holiday Season

I am a child of God with a spirit lineage to heavenly parents. That parentage defines our eternal potential. That powerful idea is a potent antidepressant. It can strengthen each of us to make righteous choices and to seek the best that is within us. Establish in the mind of a young person the powerful idea that he or she is a child of Gods and you have given self-respect and motivation to move against the problems of life.
When we understand our relationship to God, we also understand our relationship to one another. All men and women on this earth are the offspring of God, spirit brothers and sisters. What a powerful idea.
Dallin H. Oaks

This quote by Elder Oaks was very profound. I know that once we DO understand we are spirit children of our heavenly Father and spirit brothers and sisters of one another, we feel our own self-worth. WE are all connected! We don't have to know about quantum physics to know how we are all bonded through being literally connected to our Father in heaven and his son, Jesus Christ. He is in all of us.

Today I went to have dinner with the K's prior to going to K2's high school Christmas program. Lori made a delicious chicken vegetable noodle soup. We went over to the school and were entertained for almost two hours. The event was filled with beautiful songs about Jesus Christ, our Savior, the babe in the manger, the Wisemen, and the star in Bethlehem. I was so thankful to hear the school choir sing honor to our Savior and for the freedom we enjoy to hear these songs in a school setting.
I heard the voices all come together for the special number at the end, the Halleleujah Chorus.

This experience reminded of how I like to have a special event of this nature that I attend each year, one that uplifts and has a special message and commemorate the birth of the Savior. Hank and Lori's last ward used to have the "Night in Bethlehem" I loved that and remember the last one I went to was days just before my mother passed away. That little program carried me through that year with a special feeling in my heart to really celebrate Christmas the way it perhaps was intended. All of my children got together that ten days and made me a pieced hand quilted quilt. I was absent and in California with Grandpa Rodriguez.

When I returned just days before Christmas I was grieving and had not shopped for any Christmas presents. I had a photo of my mother when she was sixteen that Grandpa had given me while I was there with him. I decided to give each of the older children a copy of that photo of my mom, Elena. I felt her love for each of them and how much I loved her to share that gift. As I look back that was truly the Spirit of Christmas for me to not be caught up the worry of worldly things. I learned something very valuable. We give gifts as substitutes for our Love instead of giving something with meaning.

Ever since that day I always searched for something that could not be bought (or returned) for that matter. I would thoughtfully decide what it was that I wanted to have as a legacy or memory from me to my children and grandchildren. I let go of the worldly worries and focused on what matters is giving something of myself with true meaning;an abundance of my time and unconditional love. So I learned to give a portion of myself for my posterity as a keepsake or legacy if you will. That is the secret revealed here. So, those pages from "Written on the Pages of My Heart" have great significance worthy of reading. And so goes the "Magic of Christmas" and "God bless us Everyone!"