If we remember, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17), we will not find ourselves in the unenviable position of Jacob Marley’s ghost. When he spoke to Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens’ immortal A Christmas Carol, he spoke sadly of opportunities lost. Said he, “Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness! Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunities misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!”
Marley added: “Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!” (In The Best Short Stories of Charles Dickens, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1947, p. 435.)
We can learn a treasured lesson from the pen of Dickens and from the example of Christ. As we lift our eyes heavenward and then remember to look outward into the lives of others, as we remember that it is more blessed to give than to receive, we, during this Christmas season, will come to see a bright, particular star that will guide us to our precious opportunity.
(Thomas S. Monson, “In Search of the Christmas Spirit,” Ensign, Dec. 1987, 3)
We're trying to start some new traditions this year. What do you do at Christmas time to look outward into the lives of others? What traditions have you started in your family to focus on Christ and giving?
2 comments:
thanks for the quote, that is a great reminder.
in the past we have tried to give a box of presents to someone in need. we also do the usual plate of cookies for friends and church people.
new tradition thought! Do the 12 days of Christmas to a family in need, or sub for Santa I do that every Christmas started when I was 14. Its a blessing to do and so worth it!
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