I had to speak in church and decided to copy my talk here because it had some stories in it that I wanted to rememmber. And I'm lazy and didn't want to cut it down!
When my kids heard I would be speaking in church, Ainsley reminded me of a performance I made them watch years ago of the Tabernacle Choir. The story was told of the events leading up to the writing of the Poem, I heard the Bells on Christmas Day. So, in true Dinger fashion, I’ll start off my talk today with a little story from history.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a poet, father, and staunch abolitionist living in Cambridge Massachusetts during the height of the Civil war. Henry was married to the love of his life, Fannie, and together they had 6 children. During the spring of 1861 the civil war began and the Longfellow’s were experiencing the hardship that accompanies war. Then, tragically, during the summer of 1861, Fannie was involved in an accidental fire that would lead to her death. Henry never fully recovered from the loss of his beloved Fannie. And during the Christmas of 1861 Henry wrote in his journal, “A merry Christmas’ say the children, but that is no more for me.”
The following year tragedy struck the Longfellow home again. Henry’s oldest son Charles had joined the Union army that year. At the beginning of December Henry received notice that Charles had been wounded by gun fire in battle. Henry traveled to Washington to find his injured son to bring him home. After searching, he eventually found his son, but doctors weren’t sure he would survive. Henry transported his son back to Cambridge and would spend the next several months nursing him back to health. Over the course of 2 years Henry had endured the death of his wife, was living amidst the turmoil of the civil war, and was now worried about the life of his son. So it should come as no surprise that on Christmas day 1863 Henry was struggling to feel the peace and goodwill toward men that we sing about at Christmastime. Henry often wrote about being able to hear the church bells ringing near his New England home, and he would eventually pen these words in response to the ringing of those Christmas bells….
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said:
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”
I love this song. It is a reminder to me that mankind is no stranger to trials, sadness and despair. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made it clear to us all that he knew war, and even death were not the end. Henry reminds us of what ultimately matters most……that God lives! His is a poem about finding hope in any and all circumstances.
When I think of the birth of the Savior I think of hope. I think of the Nephites fearing for their lives and waiting for the sign of his birth to be given. I think of Mary and Joseph, full of faith and hope (and maybe even a little fear) as they contemplated the magnitude of their child’s calling in this life and what his birth would mean for every human soul. I think of the hope that turned to joy in individuals, both on earth and in the heavens, when they saw the sign of his birth in the night sky.
Hope is what Christ has given us. Because of Christ’s birth we all have hope of things to come. This hope always has, and always will carry us through difficult times.
President Uchtdorf shared this story about his mother during a time of trouble….
Near the end of World War II, President Uchtdorf’s father had been drafted into the German army, leaving his mother alone to care for his family. They were living in Czechoslovakia, and the battle front was moving closer.
During the winter of 1944, his mother decided to pack up her children and flee to Germany. She knew that travel would be dangerous as they would be passing through a war zone.
She managed to get them on one of the last refugee trains heading west. Along the way the train stopped occasionally to get supplies. One night during one of these stops, his mother got off the train to find food for her four children. However, when she returned to the train it was gone!
I can only imagine the panic and worry that she felt at the moment. She frantically searched the massive train station, and all of the criss-crossing tracks hoping that the train had not already departed.
President Uchtdorf said. “Perhaps I will never know all that went through my mother’s heart and mind on that black night as she searched through a grim railroad station for her lost children. That she was terrified, I have no doubt. I am certain it crossed her mind that if she did not find this train, she might never see her children again. I know with certainty: her faith overcame her fear, and her hope overcame her despair. She was not a woman who would sit and bemoan tragedy. She moved. She put her faith and hope into action. She ran from track to track and from train to train until she finally found our train. It had been moved to a remote area of the station. There, at last, she found her children again.”
Hope is a verb. It is more than just wishful thinking. It drives us away from despair, and inspires us to act. Hope is what allows us to push forward, one step at a time. Hope is what President Uchtdorf’s mother felt that drove her to search for her children, when she could have just sat down and cried in despair.
Satan uses doubt and despair to stop us in our tracks and keep us from progressing and moving forward.
President Uchtdorf goes on to say that, “Hope is not knowledge, but rather the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promise to us. It is confidence that we will receive desired blessings in the future. It is believing and expecting that our prayers will be answered.”
So how do we increase our hope?
Last week our YW lesson was about putting the things of God first in our lives. I think that is exactly how we increase our hope…. we focus on the things that matter most. In a conference talk by President Uchtdor (clearly I’m on an Uchtdorf kick this week) he talked about the 4 relationships that matter most. Our relationship with our heavenly father, our relationship with our family, our relationship with ourselves, and our relationship with our fellowman. When we strengthen these four relationships, are we not going to be filled with hope?
When we invest time into our relationship with our Heavenly father in prayer, in the scriptures, and in the temple we are promised peace. During our class we discussed how we spend our time and the importance of spending time daily with our Heavenly father. President Nelson said,
I know that when I make time for my father in heaven he is always quick to reassure, bless, and direct me.
The next key relationship is our relationship with our family. Our ties to our family are eternal, so it makes sense that those relationships are incredibly important. In primary we sing,
“God gave us families to help us become what he wants us to be–
This is how he shares his love, for the family is of god.”
The stories that my dad shares about Christmas time in his childhood home are a good reminder to me of the importance of family.
My dad grew up in the 60’s and lived in a small farmhouse in Heyburn Idaho. For several years of his childhood, his house was FULL. In addition to his parents and 3 siblings, they had a cousin living with them, his aging widowed grandpa, and his Aunt and Uncle lived in an RV parked on the side of the house and spent a lot of their time with the rest of the family inside. They were literally bursting at the seams. My dad shared a room with his younger brother and his grandfather. Interestingly, he never talks about his lack of personal space. Instead he talks about how special that time was. And like many of us, he has especially fond memories of his childhood Christmases. At Christmas time my grandma would make her popcorn balls, my grandpa’s love of music would ensure the record player was always playing christmas music, and everyone in the family would make a homemade gift for their family gift exchange. But the highlight of the year was when their unfinished basement was converted into a theater. They would build a make-shift stage and perform a family play complete with a script to memorize and homemade costumes for Christmas. My dad talks about the laughter and the joy that filled their home.
Now as you might imagine, my extended family probably weren’t living together because they planned to. Life’s circumstances had made it such that they all had to come together. I love hearing my dad talk about these memories because I know that even though things might have been difficult they were together as a family and just being together gave them hope in their futures. I wonder if my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and great grandpa knew that their traditions would have an effect on generations? They were creating memories and feelings of love that would transcend into future homes and families. During my childhood those Christmas traditions evolved, we didn’t build a stage and put on a play, but we did have to perform in the Welch Family Band. And my dad came up with multiple schemes over the years to encourage us to be together as a family. You will never regret time spent developing relationships with members of your family, because those familial ties will last into the eternities.
Our relationship with ourselves is also key. This requires slowing down and spending time in thought….. time developing our talents…..and time working to become the best version of ourselves. The way that we do this will be personal and unique, just as we are. We might spend time reading, in nature, creating, talking with others, listening, or pondering. As we take time to come to know ourselves, we will begin to understand what it is that God wants us to become and in turn we will have feelings of hope and peace.
The final key relationship that Uchtorf talks about is our relationship with our fellow man. I feel like this is the way that we are able to share our hope with others.
Last week during that same YW class I was reminded of an experience that brought me hope, and I apologize to the YW that have to hear this story again.
Early this fall I was driving down Fairview, crossing Eagle road and I saw what looked like a large metal box laying on the side of the road. As I got closer I was horrified to see that it was actually a motorized wheelchair that had gone off the curb and fallen into the turning lane. The sprinklers were going and there laid someone in distress, strapped into their wheelchair on the side of the road with the sprinklers blasting on them. I was driving in the middle lane and couldn’t stop immediately, so I hurried and changed lanes and quickly turned into the parking lot to help. Less than a minute had passed, but by the time I got there, there were already 5 people helping this man. One woman happened to have a towel in her car and was holding it to shield him from the sprinklers, 3 others were gently lifting him back to an upright position and out of harm’s way. Someone else was drying his glasses so he could see. A bag of his groceries had spilled out on the road and we were all gathering up his food and putting it back in his basket. Then the sweet woman with the towel dried this man and his chair off as best she could. What had started out as merely a heartbreaking scene, quickly turned into one where my heart was touched by all of the caring people trying to help this stranger. I witnessed people reaching out to help someone and it gave me hope and reminded me of the goodness of people. There is so much kindness and love in this world. As we follow the example of our Savior and “go about doing good” our hope increases along with those we serve. For me, on that day when I saw others ‘going about doing good’ my hope was strengthened.
Our relationships with our fellow man is strengthened when we take the time to reach out and make connections. When we offer help to a stranger. When we say a kind word. When we volunteer to help those in need. When we perform the service for others that our heavenly father is relying on us to do.
Ether 12:4 says, “ Wherefore, whoso believeth in God, might with surety, hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
This Christmas season as we reflect on the birth of our Savior I pray that we will all feel hope, and then allow that hope to lead us to action. I know that as we take the time to strengthen our relationships with God, our families, ourselves, and our fellow man we will feel the spirit of hope grow within us.
