What made that night so holy?
Imagine that time before we came to this earth where we were all one big family, we loved each other, we had no prejudices or divisions, we were all called by the same family name. We learned together, and we counseled together and it was determined that it was time for us to experience mortality. Everything was going according to the plan we had agreed to. Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, according to the plan, and mortality became a reality for us.
Suddenly things changed. We watched our brothers and sisters come down to earth and struggle with temptations and weaknesses, with physical deformities, depression, anxiety, infertility, and many, many more physical and mental challenges. We were sad.
Each one of us still looked forward to our turn to come here to earth and try our hand, thinking, we could see the mistakes that our brothers and sisters had made, and we could correct them. We saw them making choices that led to heart ache and misery. And it in some ways this terrified us. We saw many that we thought were strong and noble spirits come down, stumble, and fall under the pressure of mortality.We were commanded by our Heavenly Father to pray to him for help. Some did, some did not. We saw them fight, the siblings we loved and cared about were killing each other. We were sad, and we began to understand the need for a Savior in the plan. We heard the pleas of our siblings, as they cried out, "Oh come, Oh come Emanuel, and ransom captive Israel, who mourns in lowly exile... "The closer it came to our turn the more we appreciated and understood those pleas, begging for help..
So, when it was announced that this night was the night we had been waiting for. We rejoiced, we broke into songs of Hallelujah. We cried tears of joy, not only for ourselves, but for all our brothers and sisters who's pleas were being fulfilled. The veil which separated us from our brothers and sisters became thin and many heard us as we celebrated. Our Heavenly Father was so excited he sent his angels to announce the birth to any who would listen. He was also a little apprehensive. We could tell he was very pleased, but was also a bit anxious. We rejoiced with all the holy prophets as we watched our Savior being born. We watched as he grew up. We saw him suffer at the hands of our own brothers and sisters. That was a dark day in heaven. We felt a deep sorrow, it was difficult to understand how our own brothers, and sisters could have gotten to this point.
There really wasn't much time for us to mourn, because on that side of the veil we had been preparing for the return of our big brother. It all happened almost as it were in the twinkling of an eye, because on the third day we rejoiced once again as Emanuel, our brother, Jesus Christ arose and took his place next to our Father.
And we rejoiced, because we knew that it was done. Our agency was no longer a hopeless curse, but a gift that made all the suffering we, and our brothers and sisters would suffer, worth it. Our ability to repent and change would not be in vain. Our mistakes, our stumbling, and our falls, could now officially be turned into stepping stones of learning rather than our hopeless demise. The gift of agency and repentance, the greatest gifts of all eternity had there beginnings long before their reality, but it is the reality of these gifts that we celebrate each Christmas Season.May God bless us all with a Merry Christmas as we ponder upon the gifts our Heavenly Father has given us.
Remember, Faith is loyal to the happy ending. Faith sees trials, tribulations, stumbles, and falls as simply part of the story on its way to an inevitable Happily Ever After.
