This Christmas . . .

“This Christmas, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again.”

I love this quote from Howard W. Hunter. He said it during the Christmas Devotional in 1994, just a couple of months before he passed away. In the hustle and bustle of the Christmas, sometimes we forget what this beautiful season is really all about. What a truly wonderful gift we would give others - and ourselves - if we could do these things this Christmas!

In 2016, the lessons for Relief Society and Priesthood will be from Teachings of the Presidents of the Church - Howard W. Hunter. To begin my study, I decided I would first read the section "The Life and Ministry of Howard W. Hunter." That Christmas quote was just one of the wonderful things I found in my reading. Although it is rather long, understandably so since it covers his entire life, it is something I would highly recommend before the lessons begin. I learned some things that made me laugh. I learned some things that made me cry. Mostly I learned some things that made me have a deeper love and appreciation for this wonderful prophet of God!

Especially at Christmas, it is important to focus on the beautiful gifts we have been given from a kind, loving Heavenly Father: His Son, the temple and even our challenges, which are meant to draw us closer to Him and make us who He intends us to be. President Hunter reminds us of those precious gifts in the following quotes, which are also found in the section on his life and ministry:

“Please remember this one thing. If our lives and our faith are centered upon Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can ever go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on the Savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be permanently right.”

“I . . . invite the members of the Church to establish the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of their membership and the supernal setting for their most sacred covenants. . . . Let us be a temple-attending and a temple-loving people. . . . [G]o for the personal blessing of temple worship, for the sanctity and safety which is provided within those hallowed and consecrated walls. The temple is a place of beauty, it is a place of revelation, it is a place of peace. It is the house of the Lord. It is holy unto the Lord. It should be holy unto us.”

“Prophets and Apostles of the Church have faced … personal difficulties. I acknowledge that I have faced a few, and you will undoubtedly face some of your own. . . . When these experiences humble us and refine us and teach us and bless us, they can be powerful instruments in the hands of God to make us better people, to make us more grateful, more loving, and more considerate of other people in their own times of difficulty.”