I hope that you have had an amazing Christmas season this year, as I have.
I hope you have been able to spend time with friends and family. I hope you’ve had opportunities to serve, to enjoy good music, and to share the Savior’s light with others. I hope that you’ve experienced a sense of wonder as you’ve contemplated the birth of Jesus, and that you have expressed gratitude to God for “the gift of his Son” (Ether 12:11).
Now that Christmas is over, my question is this: How has Christmas changed you this year, and how durable is that change?
Five years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Samuel, who was a Lamanite, shared with the people of Nephi a set of signs which would coincide with this event: “great lights in heaven,” resulting in a brightly lit night, a new star which they had not seen before, and many other “signs and wonders in heaven” (Helaman 14:3-6). Samuel also prophesied what would happen to the people as a result of these phenomena:
Ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall fall to the earth.
And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life.
Helaman 14:7-8
Five years later, the signs Samuel described actually appeared. Just as he had foretold, the people were awe-struck:
There were many, who had not believed the words of the prophets, who fell to the earth and became as if they were dead, … for the sign which had been given was already at hand. …
Yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.
3 Nephi 1:16-17
How long did this last? Immediately after, “There began to be lyings sent forth among the people, by Satan, to harden their hearts, to the intent that they might not believe in those signs and wonders which they had seen; but notwithstanding these lyings and deceivings the more part of the people did believe, and were converted unto the Lord” (3 Nephi 1:22). However, within just a few years, “the people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard” (3 Nephi 2:1).
How can we avoid that fate? How can we retain the spirit we have felt this Christmas season?
After the unexpected visit of the shepherds to the stable, “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Twelve years later, after finding her son teaching scholars in the temple, she “kept all these sayings in her heart” (Luke 2:51).
The prophet Nephi responded in a similar way. After experiencing a miracle, as the people around him “divided hither and thither and went their ways, leaving Nephi alone, … [he] went his way towards his own house, pondering upon the things which the Lord had shown unto him” (Helaman 10:1-2).
Both Mary and Nephi took the time to think about what they had experienced, to consider its implications. In this way, they were changed by what they had seen, and heard, and felt.
Today, I will ponder my experiences this Christmas season. I will write my thoughts and impressions, and I will allow the Spirit of the Lord, which I have felt abundantly during this season, to rest upon my soul a little longer, so that the experience can become part of me and not be forgotten as I return to the usual activities of life.
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