The Most Precious of Gifts

Christmas has come and past, what was the most precious gift you received?

Christmas time is a wonderful time of year to be remember the birth of Christ, be together as a family, share good times, good food, and good gifts. The world has commercialized the Christmas holiday, it seems to be, whoever gets the biggest gift is the best off and the most loved. People spend countless hours trying to think of and find the "best" gift to give. Giving gifts, especially at Christmas time is not a bad thing, we just must always remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Serving a mission has been a wonderful tool for me to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior, and not so much on receiving gifts. I am hundreds of miles away from home and away from my loved ones, but I am doing the best work that I could ever do, spreading the name of Christ, and His true gospel throughout all the world, or at least here in Tennessee. I had the opportunity to ponder on the birth, life and sacrifice of our Lord, and the impact it has had on me, thousands of years later. It has been such a blessing. However, I still did receive gifts from my family. I would like to share with you the most precious gift I received.

A few days before Christmas I got several letters, that on the back was written, "Do not open until Christmas." So I patiently waited. Christmas morning I went for them first. The first one that I opened was from Grandpa and Grandma Reed. Inside was a card, with 3 pieces of folded paper inside. As I pulled out the paper I saw a hand written note from my Grandpa, I started to read his shaky handwriting, and realized that it was his testimony. As I fought back the tears, I devoured every word, then quickly read Grandma's and energetically opened the other two letters. Which were the testimonies of some of my siblings. It was so great. Tuesday after Christmas, I got letters from the rest of my family, each containing their personal testimonies! Simple... Yes! The most precious gift they could have given... Yes! I know that my family loves me and that they have a firm testimony in and of our Savior!!

I loved this Christmas time to focus more on the humble birth of our Savior, but now that it is past and the new year has begun, we don't have to stop focusing on and thinking about the role that Christ plays in our lives! He is my Savior, I know that he loves me and that He gave all, even His life, so that I can return to live with Him again!! I know He lives!!