Sharing The Gift

The Gift.

The First gift.

As a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), we have been asked to tell others how we will #SharetheGift this Christmas season.

I need to first define what that means to me.

Our Heavenly Father gave us the first gift....that of his Son, Jesus.  But that gift means something different to everyone.

To me, His gift is deeply personal.

There are things in my life that I struggle mightily with, and within the past six months, I am beginning to see very clearly how broken I am in places.

These issues have dogged me my whole life, and while I have no idea what the root cause is, I know that I need to be healed.

I can’t do that on my own.

I’ve tried.  Heaven knows how much I have tried to fix me on my own, but I just can’t do it.

It has only been recently that I have realized that I will never be able to mend what is damaged.  I NEED His gift in order to be whole again someday.

The gift of His Son.

The Savior’s life….and ultimate death and resurrection….make healing possible because of the enabling power of the Atonement.  This power helps me know that I can be more than the mess that I feel I am inside.  It provides me hope that I can do this.

With His help.  With His love.

I CAN be whole.

But how do I translate this into something I can share?

Because He first loved me by being willing to come to earth, suffer all things, and eventually triumph over all things, I can show kindness and mercy to those who feel there is no kindness or mercy.  I can be a listening ear to the wounded heart.  I can let Him shine through me.  I can be His hands.  I can encourage.  I can love.

He did all that FOR ME.

And I can one day kneel before Him.

Whole.

So I will #SharetheGIft by loving as He loved.

Purely.  Completely.  Without restriction.

And now I ask you…..how will you #SharetheGift?