I have struggled with the Santa idea as a parent. I don’t want Santa Claus to be the focus of Christmas for my family. Jesus Christ is the true reason to celebrate Christmas. He had to be born for Him to be able to be perfect and create the Atonement and be crucified so that we can repent of our misdeeds and sins and be able to be pure and clean to dwell with God again. Jesus was real. I know this. He lived. He suffered in Gethsemane for you and for me. He died to be able to live again. And He did. And because He did, we will also. He was not magical. He had glory. God’s glory.
“In the scriptures, glory often refers to God’s light and truth. It may also refer to praise or honor and to a certain condition of eternal life or to the glory of God.” Glory (churchofjesuschrist.org)
I’ve been pondering about Glory a lot in the last week. I’d love to share some of my thoughts with you about it. An experience I had one morning with my children helps me to sum it up, so I’ll start there.
One Saturday morning, I woke up feeling fully rested. I wrote the blog post for that morning and the message just flowed from my inspired heart. The spirit is with me and it helps me to write these posts. I am just a willing participant, and it is a very beautiful experience. When the post is done, and I’ve looked it over a few times, I post it and move on with my day. It is very difficult to keep the spirit with you all day in this imperfect human state of being. There are many frustrations, distractions and setbacks that come about our day.
On this morning, I was becoming short of patience with some of my children. I become grumpy. I don’t like feeling that way. It is very frustrating to go from feeling at one with the spirit to feeling annoyed and frustrated. The spirit departs from me. I miss it. I had to officiate a few big emotion conversations and then teach the offending child that a boundary was crossed and help them to understand why the other child was upset. There are big feelings all around.
At some point, in my own frustration, I looked to my little one and said, “I didn’t wake up grumpy today. I woke up super happy and rested today.” Then my other daughter came over and said, “There, there Mommy,” as she patted and rubbed my back. It brought a smile to my face. She wanted me to feel better. Through her desire and service to go out of her way to make me feel better, I did in fact feel more light come into my countenance.
This is the best way for me to explain Glory. As we choose to turn away from Satan’s influence and repent, as we decide to be righteous and turn to the scriptures, as we pray to our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, as we attend church, as we look to serve others, we give Glory back to God. In turn, He gives mercy. That is the beauty of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is powerful.
Can you imagine a world where we all turn to God and just walk away from the distractions that Satan has put into our lives? When we all choose to feel his love, truth, and light instead of Satan’s hate, lies, and darkness. One day it will happen. That will be the reality of all things. I look forward to that day. I encourage you to all strive to prepare for it. The time is at hand.
Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. “
Revelation 1:7 “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him…”
It is the time to put learning of Christ and His teachings at the top of your to do list. Teach others of Him. He was real. He will return. Will you know Him when He comes again?
Jesus is teaching the Sermon on the Mount. He is talking about how when he comes again, there will be those that will say that they have followed Him, but they did not. This is his response: “And then will I profess to them, I never knew you…” (Matthew 7:23, KJV )
Now I want you to read it this way: “And then will I say, Ye never knew me…” (JST)
This helps me to understand that He is not choosing to not know us. It is us that choose not to know Him. The choice is ours. What will you choose?
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