After experiencing the Christmas season in several countries, Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Presidency of the Seventy said he has learned that Christmas is for everyone — children and grandparents; rich and poor; the healthy and the sick; those who live amid war and those who experience peace; those who try to follow the Savior and those who reject Him.
“Christmas is for everyone because God sent His Son for all of us and for each of us,” he declared during the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional on Sunday, Dec. 3.
Because the Savior was born, atoned for all and was resurrected, all will receive the great gift of resurrection from the dead. “Not one soul who ever lived on the earth is deprived of this remarkable gift,” Elder Johnson said.
No matter the time period or circumstance — since the time of Adam and Eve — the righteous have looked to the birth of the Savior, he said. “He came to offer each of Heavenly Father’s children ‘peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come’” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:23).
Elder Johnson said the Christmas season is a special time to think of what is most important to give. He shared the experience of his daughter Alisa, who passed away from cancer several years ago.
One year, after a grim health prognosis, Alisa received an email just before Christmas from her oncologist’s office. The email explained that she would qualify for a medication that would shrink the tumors for a time, but the cancer would come back. “But I felt like someone just handed me months of extra life,” Alisa wrote. “And what could that be? … An extra summer? Another holiday season with my babies? I cried when I opened the email and thanked God for the best surprise I’ve ever had.”
Elder Johnson said his daughter also shared of lying in bed with her 6-year-old son, Luke, with colored lights illuminating his window. When she asked what he wanted for Christmas, he said, “A hug and a kiss from Mommy.”
She replied, “Silly Luke, you can have that any old time.”
As she walked out the door her heart sunk a little, Alisa wrote. “I guess that may not necessarily be true. I feel very grateful that this year he can have that and presents too.”
Later, Alisa wrote to her family of the hope surrounding Christmas. “As I think about the miracle of Christ and the many gifts of God, I feel hope for everything and everyone. Not necessarily the kind of hope that everything will be perfect, but that everything will be okay, and eventually goodness prevail. In all our lives. I don’t think it’s ever too late for miracles, for change, for peace. I really believe that deep down inside and all over.”
She then shared the words of a favorite Christmas song:
“Good Christian men, rejoice
“With heart, and soul, and voice;
“Now ye need not fear the grave:
“Peace! Peace!
“Jesus Christ was born to save!
“Calls you one and calls you all,
“To gain His everlasting hall;
“Christ was born to save!
“Christ was born to save!”
Elder Johnson then repeated, “He was born to save — to save you and to save me. What an incomparable gift that can only be given by Him. No matter our current circumstances, may we more fully sense His gifts in our lives this Christmas season.”
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