Packing up Christmas (Bread of Life Section)

Sunday is the day I share a little of my soul. Enjoy.

Today, as the glow of the Christmas lights still linger in my heart and the warmth of the joy is still dancing on the fibers of my soul, I wanted to share a few thoughts. I started thinking how quickly Christmas as come this year...and how I don't want it to leave yet. Many of you have been with me as readers and friends during some of the most difficult and trying times of my life. I don't share a lot of my struggles here on the blog but I want to let you know that there have been challenges both seen and unseen that you've carried me through. 

I didn't realize how quickly those years of struggle have gone by, until I was looking at the older posts here and realizing how very small the boys were when we started this journey. Especially now, as Little Man is a teenager and Face is right on his heels. Time isn't stopping. Argh. Time is lame and cool simultaneously. I'm pretty sure I'm lame and cool simultaneously at moments so I should relate to that. Our time with our family and friends is precious and short. 

Thomas S. Monson said, "...our opportunities to love and give of ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable. Today there are hearts to gladden, kind words to say, deeds to be done, and souls to be saved."

One who had keen insight into the Christmas spirit wrote:
I am the Christmas Spirit—
I enter the home of poverty, causing palefaced children to open their eyes wide, in pleased wonder.
I cause the miser’s clutched hand to relax and thus paint a bright spot on his soul.
I cause the aged to renew their youth and to laugh in the old glad way.
I keep romance alive in the heart of childhood, and brighten sleep with dreams woven of magic.
I cause eager feet to climb dark stairways with filled baskets, leaving behind hearts amazed at the goodness of the world.
I cause the prodigal to pause a moment on his wild, wasteful way and send to anxious love some little token that releases glad tears—tears which wash away the hard lines of sorrow.
I enter dark prison cells, reminding scarred manhood of what might have been and pointing forward to good days yet to be.
I come softly into the still, white home of pain, and lips that are too weak to speak just tremble in silent, eloquent gratitude.
In a thousand ways, I cause the weary world to look up into the face of God, and for a little moment forget the things that are small and wretched.
I am the Christmas Spirit. (source here)

The Christmas Spirit is indeed the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of Christ. I want it to stay in my heart and in my home long after the tree is taken down and the lights are packed away in dusty boxes to be stowed away in the attic. I don't want to do that with my Savior. I don't want to put him away in a room that I only open on special occasions. "Come let us adore him" should be every single day and moment of my life. So, today I decided, I'm not packing up Christmas. I'll put away the tree, but I don't want to ever put away my God.  I don't want to stop spreading good cheer, or gifts, or love. I don't want to stop smiling at the people I meet and bringing joy. That, I think, is the point. Think today, as I am, about ways you can bring that love with you, even after the season ends. Love isn't a shoe to be put on and taken off, it is a mantle to wear for the rest of your life. Keep that love alive. Share joy. Carry on in your efforts to be a true example of the believers. Then, and only then, can you open each day like it is Christmas. Like it is a box full of love...

Life, like love in your heart, is a gift. Open it every single day.

There it is.

Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess