Last week my face Book page
said that they had collected my Christmas pictures since I had become a member
over ten years ago. However, as I looked at their collection, I became confused.
They just didn’t look like pictures that I would take for Christmas. One picture
was of my daughter making a
fleece blanket. Another picture was of my nieces wedding at the St. George
Temple. One was of a quilt I had made for one of my daughter’s bridesmaids. A
picture followed of the flowers at the Denver temple. Next came a photo of my
niece holding her brother’s new baby at my mother’s funeral. The last was a
picture of my Dad and a dozen of his great grand- children in the summer time. What
did these pictures have to do with Christmas? I wondered.
In my reading of the October General Conference talks of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shortly after, I read, Covenant Women in
Partnership with God
By President Henry B. Eyring
“Becoming a covenant woman in partnership with God is how
great and good daughters of God have always mothered, led, and ministered. Your
call began when you were placed into mortality, in a place and time chosen for
you by a God who knows you perfectly and loves you as His daughter. When you
came out of the waters of baptism, you had accepted another call to serve. As a
new covenant daughter of God, you made a promise and received an assignment in
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which you were then
confirmed a member. You covenanted with God to take upon yourself the name of
Jesus Christ, to keep His commandments, and to serve Him.
For each one who makes these covenants, the service that the
Lord calls him or her to do will be suited perfectly to that person. The
covenant daughters and sons of God, however, all share one important and joyful
call. It is to serve others for Him. “To help another human being reach one’s
celestial potential is part of the divine mission of woman. As mother, teacher,
or nurturing Saint, she molds living clay to the shape of her hopes. In
partnership with God, her divine mission is to help spirits live and souls be
lifted. This is the measure of her creation. It is ennobling, edifying, and
exalting.” You cannot know when, or for what length of time, your personal
mission will be focused on service in calls such as mother, leader, or
ministering sister. The Lord, out of love, does not leave us the choice of the
timing, duration, or sequence of our assignments. Yet you know from scripture
and living prophets that all of these assignments will come, either in this
life or in the next, to every daughter of God. And all of them are preparation
for eternal life in loving families— “the greatest of all the gifts of God.”
You remember President Nelson’s perfect description of a
woman’s divine mission—including
her mission of mothering: “As mother, teacher, or nurturing Saint, she molds
living clay to the shape of her hopes. In partnership with God, her divine
mission is to help spirits live and souls be lifted. This is the measure of her
creation.” Becoming a covenant woman in partnership with God is how great and
good daughters of God have always mothered, led, and ministered, serving in
whatever way and place He has prepared for them.” And then the light! I
understood! Mathew 25:40
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least
of these my brethren, ye have done it
unto me.”
These have all been pictures of
times when we have been of service to others, to show our love. Our gifts of
love to Christ. Christmas pictures.
