Turning to Jesus

As much as I love Christmas, it tends to get a little crazy. Everyone wants to spend time with everyone else, but party times conflict and all the fun plans get smashed in between trips to the grocery store and baking crazes and shopping. It's wonderful to have time off of work and school, but there are days when it doesn't feel like much of a vacation. Something has to get cut out. This year, it was my family's annual trip to the Cathedral of the Madeline in Salt Lake for a Christmas choir concert. I love going, but I knew that fitting it in would be more stress than it was worth (and besides, those wooden benches are not comfortable).

My mom shared a quote with me the other day that I can't remember exactly, but it was essentially that we have to turn to Jesus in order to survive the Christmas season. I laughed when she told me, but it occurred to me that Christmas, with all its accompanying stress, is exactly when we need Jesus the most. I've watched the season get crazy, and the to-do lists become overwhelming, and in the midst of it all, my patience with people and traffic has run low. In the last few days, I've seen more angry drivers and impatient shoppers than at any other time of the year. The demands of the season distract us so easily from the reasons for celebrating it.

And so, I'm turning to Jesus to help me get through the season. I'm trying to remember why it is I'm shopping and baking and wrapping, and surprisingly, it's in those very activities that I've found the Savior. He gave unselfishly and unceasingly, and as I have planned gifts and surprises, I have felt the Christmas spirit most strongly. I can't wait for Christmas so I can watch the faces of my husband and family as they open the gifts I carefully picked out for them. I can't wait to feel the kindness of the day envelop me. We celebrate Christ's birth because He gave us life and love and hope, and in turning to Him, I find my patience and compassion returning. And that is the best gift of all.

Merry Christmas!