The Spirit of Christmas - The Spirit of Change

Christmas is a special time of year.  A time of giving, sharing, receiving, spending time with family and friends, counting our blessings, thinking of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and his complete sacrifice for each of us.  With this spirit of joy, love, and peace I share our family Christmas "Photo" Letter with each of you.

I am so grateful for my family and for the blessings we have received over this past year.  I have not done my best job of keeping my blog up to date, so I will strive to improve in 2014.  Needless to say, 2013 was a great year for me in meeting some of my goals and pursuing my personal best.  I hope the same is true for each of you.  More to share on this in future blogs.

As I think of my growing up years, I recall that one of my Dad's favorite movies to watch at Christmas time was A Christmas Carol.  The story by Charles Dickens, of a man named Ebenezer Scrooge and his change of heart.   If you have been living on a remote island your whole life and have never seen it, you can watch the whole thing on YouTube        A Christmas Carol (1984 version)  You will be glad you did!

Ebenezer is known for saying Bah Humbug! and for his contempt for Christmas.  This attitude slowly starts to change as three Spirits of Christmas visit him throughout the night.  There are a few segments of the dialogue that I will share to illustrate his resistance.  

Spirit of Christmas Present: So! Is your heart still unmoved towards us, then?
Ebenezer: I'm too old and beyond hope! Go and redeem some younger, more promising creature, and leave me to keep Christmas in my own way!
Spirit of Christmas Present: Mortal! We Spirits of Christmas do not live only one day of our year. We live the whole three-hundred and sixty-five. So is it true of the Child born in Bethlehem. He does not live in men's hearts one day of the year, but in all days of the year. You have chosen not to seek Him in your heart. Therefore, you will come with me and seek Him in the hearts of men of good will.

As we look at our own lives and see areas for improvement, do we find ourselves so comfortable in our present condition that we resist change as did Ebenezer?  Do we think the effort is too great? Or, do we not fully understand the awesome experience we will have when we cross over to the other side?  I am intrigued by what keeps us (me included) resistant to positive change.

Now back to the story...  Ebenezer is visited by the Spirit of Christmas Past, where he reflects on several events that help him recognize that he was not always a "Scrooge".  He finally is visited by the final visitor, The Spirit of Christmas Future.

Ebenezer: [to the Spirit of Christmas Yet To Come] I am standing in the presence of the Spirit of Christmas Yet To Come? And you're going to show me the shadows of things that have not yet happened but will happen? Spirit of the Future, I fear you more than any spectre I have met tonight! But even in my fear, I must say that I am too old! I cannot change! I cannot! It's not that I'm inpenitent, it's just... Wouldn't it be better if I just went home to bed?
[pause]
Ebenezer: No? Well, very well. Lead on.

That last comment from Ebenezer is, in my opinion, the what it takes to make the mighty change.  Willingness to continue.  Recognizing that there is just possibly a chance that the change can still take place.  A final grasp to apply our remaining faith to move into the darkness with hope that the light will appear, rather than sink into despair.  May that be our goal as we look toward 2014!  Search out in our hearts and minds whatever is holding us back from becoming better and deciding to pursue our personal best.

I found the following quote from Thomas S. Monson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which summarizes many of my thoughts regarding the Spirit of Change.  Enjoy!  Let's all "follow the Star and walk toward the Light this coming year!

“Our opportunities to give of ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable. There are hearts to gladden. There are kind words to say. There are gifts to be given. There are deeds to be done. There are souls to be saved.

As we remember that “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, who spoke to Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’s immortal "Christmas Carol." Marley 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 opportunity 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 the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!'

Fortunately, as we know, Ebenezer Scrooge changed his life for the better. I love his line, 'I am not the man I was.'

Why is Dickens’ "Christmas Carol" so popular? Why is it ever new? I personally feel it is inspired of God. It brings out the best within human nature. It gives hope. It motivates change. We can turn from the paths which would lead us down and, with a song in our hearts, follow a star and walk toward the light. We can quicken our step, bolster our courage, and bask in the sunlight of truth. We can hear more clearly the laughter of little children. We can dry the tear of the weeping. We can comfort the dying by sharing the promise of eternal life. If we lift one weary hand which hangs down, if we bring peace to one struggling soul, if we give as did the Master, we can—by showing the way—become a guiding star for some lost mariner.”