Learn From the Wise Men

There is much we can learn from the Wise Men. Like them, we should study the scriptures and know the signs to watch for as we all prepare the earth for the Savior’s Second Coming. Then, as we search and ponder the scriptures, we will more fully desire to seek the Lord every day of our lives and, as a gift to Him, give up our selfishness, pride, and rebelliousness. When personal revelation comes to alter the plans we have made, we can obey, having faith and trust that God knows what is best for us. And ultimately, through lives of true discipleship, we must fall down and worship the Savior in humility and love.

Elder Patrick Kearon

• PG 33 ENSIGNDECEMBER 2011
• COME, LET US ADORE HIM

Do Not Depart From the Temple

We learn from Anna’s experience that we can live faithfully through all weathers if we are consistent in our fasting and prayer and if we do not depart from the temple in our hearts. If we haven’t yet had the opportunity to travel to a temple and receive its blessings, we can still enjoy the blessings that flow into our lives when we worthily hold a temple recommend. Prophets have repeatedly invited us to hold a temple recommend even if our circumstances do not allow us to attend the temple.² We can lift ourselves from dark moments and into the light of gratitude through our temple worship and through testifying of Jesus to all who look for peace and hope.

Elder Patrick Kearon

• PG 32-33 ENSIGNDECEMBER 2011
• COME, LET US ADORE HIM

Right Place at the Right Time

Simeon’s righteous and faithful life enabled him to be present in the temple so he could testify of the Light when at last he found it. We, like Simeon, can strive for greater sensitivity and obedience to the whisperings of the Holy Ghost so that our lives can take the path our Heavenly Father has in mind for us. Because Simeon had cultivated his ability to hear and respond to the Spirit, he was in the right place at the right time, and the Lord’s promises to him were fulfilled in the most glorious way.

The same opportunities can be afforded to each of us and can likewise allow the Lord’s plan to unfold in our lives. When we are faced with making decisions of eternal significance, when we are at a crossroads in our lives, we need clarity of thinking and correct perspective. Sometimes the very nature of making these important decisions causes us to feel unsure, unsteady, and even unable to act, down in the dark valley under the inversion. But as we take steps of faith and act according to righteous principles, we gradually see God’s plan taking shape in our lives, and we are brought back into the bright sunlight of God’s love.

Elder Patrick Kearon

• PG 32 ENSIGNDECEMBER 2011
• COME, LET US ADORE HIM

Respond Immediately When the Spirit Speaks

Like the shepherds, we must respond immediately, with haste, whenever the Spirit speaks to us. In the words of President Thomas S. Monson, we must “never, never, never postpone following a prompting.”¹ Sometimes after heeding a prompting, we cannot clearly see why we have been guided by the Spirit to act in a certain way. But often, like the shepherds, we see miracles occur, and our faithful response to a prompting is confirmed. We can then take opportunities to share our joy and our witness with others. Doing so can strengthen others’ faith and hope, further confirming our own testimonies and bringing us closer to the Savior and His ways.

Elder Patrick Kearon

• PG 32 ENSIGNDECEMBER 2011
• COME, LET US ADORE HIM

Come Unto Christ

What can we learn from the shepherds, Simeon, Anna, and the Wise Men, all of whom were favored to come and see the Christ child with their own eyes? As we ponder their faithful responses to the invitation to come to Christ, we can learn to more effectively lift ourselves out of our own inversions, out of any gloom and confusion we may be experiencing, and bring ourselves into the clear, pure hope offered by the Light of the World. It is there, with Him, that we come to feel who we really are and where we fit into the eternal picture. Our own inversions are reversed, and proper perspective is restored.

Elder Patrick Kearon

• PG 31 ENSIGNDECEMBER 2011
• COME, LET US ADORE HIM

Show the Spirit of Christmas

This Christmas, as the spirit of the season permeates our hearts, let us do something that expresses our feelings in an outward way, showing that we understand that the babe born in Bethlehem is the real Redeemer. President Howard W. Hunter (1907–95) gave some practical advice that helps us do that:

“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 yourgratitude. 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.”

Gary E. Stevenson, "The Reality of Christmas," Ensign, Dec 2014, 25.

The First to Know of Christ's Birth

The Jewish people anxiously anticipated this great event. They knew the Messiah would come, and they expected Him to come in glory, liberate them temporally, establish an earthly kingdom, and rule as their King.

Who would know first of the Messiah’s birth? Would it not be the Sanhedrin or others in positions of power and influence?

The Bible tells us that it was lowly shepherds sleeping on the ground to whom an angel declared the “good tidings of great joy” (Luke 2:10) and that it was Wise Men from afar who saw “his star in the east, and [came] to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). The powerful and the influential, whose vision was blurred by the philosophies of this world, were not with the Savior at His birth or during His ministry. They had before them the real thing but did not know it or accept it.

Gary E. Stevenson, "The Reality of Christmas, " Ensign, Dec 2014, 24-25.

Modest Gifts

Gifts can be part of a cherished tradition, but they can also detract from the simple dignity of the season and distract us from celebrating the birth of our Savior in a meaningful way.

I know from personal experience that the most memorable Christmases can be those that are the most humble. The presents of my childhood were certainly modest by today’s standards. Sometimes I received a mended shirt or a pair of gloves or socks. I remember one special Christmas when my brother gave me a wooden knife he had carved.

It doesn’t take expensive gifts to make Christmas meaningful. 

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Fill the World with Christ's Love," Ensign, Dec 2014, 4.