Joy to the World!

I have shared some thoughts of past Christmases-from when I was a youngster and a brief mention of a Christmas far from home.  I haven't yet shared memories of early Christmases with our own little family.  There are also tales to tell of Christmas times of disappointments, and others of times of great hope.

But, for today, on this Christmas morning, I want to let you all know of my love for that Child whose birth we celebrate today.  Yes, I love him because He is our Savior.  His atonement gives me a foundation on which I can build a life.  But His mortality gives me hope.   Not hope that I can live free of sin, as He did, but hope that, because he came as One of Us, He understands me.  He has Empathy because He lived a mortal life.  When I suffer the normal mortal experiences of temptation, illness, grief, or anguish, I know that He understands, because He experienced this things as well. And He experienced them to a much greater degree than I ever will.  He also know how I feel when I want to shout for joy or when I feel contentment in having served someone or created some small thing.

Because He was born and lived as One of Us, He knows perfectly well what we need and when and how He needs to succor us (rush to our aid).  And that gives me hope.  Every day.

So-give glory because this King and Son of God was born and we celebrate His birth.  But also give glory because He is One of Us-our Brother, both spiritually and in the flesh.  I believe that His experiences as he lived and experienced what we all do are integral to His infinite atonement.  He is able to provide a way for us to become "at one" with Him and our Father because He became One of Us.

(Orson Scott Card recently wrote an article about Christ being On of Us on http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/-- it is worth a read)