“His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

Traveling home to North Carolina after celebrating Thanksgiving in Maryland is always a gamble. Being anywhere near Washington, DC’s 495 Beltway and Interstate 95 is usually a blueprint for driving nightmares. Although we had hoped to avoid the heavy traffic, we didn’t. It could have been worse; it could have been snowing and the traffic completely stopped for hours. I have faced that misery before. But this day, the traffic although heavy, moved.

The shiny, bright penny in this story has nothing to do with traffic, but an encounter at a gas station’s convenience store after trudging along 95 with other weary travelers. As I walked up to the counter to purchase my few items, I looked up to see a young man with piercings, tattoos, and dressed mostly in black. I noted that his t-shirt read “Prodigal Son”. I smiled at him and engaged in conversation as I often do, by asking him a question.

Pointing to his t-shirt I asked, “Is Prodigal Son a band?” In a quiet voice with great humility, he answered me. He told me it was a story from the Bible, then took the time to tell me the tale of the Prodigal’s Son. At the end of the story, he pointed to himself and said, “I am the Prodigal’s Son. I went off in riotous living, doing many things I knew I shouldn’t do. Then one day, I knew I needed to change my life and I came back home.” (see Luke 15:11-32)

I said, “That is one of the sweetest testimonies of the Savior.” How simple and to the point was this young man’s story. Full of humility, his heart overflowed with thanksgiving, a quiet but profound acknowledgment of how far he had come by the grace that had lifted him through the Savior’s redeeming power. Although I have not spent my fortune on riotous living as described in this biblical story, I need the Savior’s redeeming power just as much as this young man. We all do. It just seems that sometimes, the farther we fall, the more determined we are to stay on course just as the Lamanites of old who never fell away. (see Helaman 15:8-10; 3 Nephi 9:20)

“Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin.” (The words Jesus Christ – 3 Nephi 10:21)

During Thanksgiving, I usually feel increased gratitude for my family and my ancestors. At Easter I tend to focus on the Atonement. Yet, as the Christmas season sparkles everywhere for the entire month of December, I behold the brightness of hope and joy in the birth of Jesus Christ. So, on Christmas day, I read the story of the Nativity in Luke 2 and the story of Samuel the Lamanite’s prophecy. (see Helaman 14; 3 Nephi 1)

Yet, this Christmas season my mind seems to be far more focused on the Living Christ and His Second Coming. This has not taken away my hope or joy in the season, it just feels more like the anticipation of my cup of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream at the end of bitterly cold day. There seems to be something more within, a stirring of my soul so to speak, that feels different.

We are asked to endure to the end, whenever that will be for each of us; to not only hang on until the Savior comes, but use our time and talents to prepare for His coming. We do this by living His Gospel serving others, and engaging in the Lord’s work of gathering Israel on both sides of the veil; so the world will not be wasted at His [second] coming¹.

Perhaps my inner feelings sprung from President Nelson’s recent General Conference address. “Brothers and sisters, now is the time for you and for me to prepare for the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Now is the time for us to make our discipleship our highest priority. In a world filled with dizzying distractions, how can we do this?” (President Russell M. Nelson; The Lord Jesus Christ Will Come Again; General Conference, October 2024)

Considering the many “dizzying distractions” that exist in the world, I thought about Elder (now President) Dallin H. Oaks October 2007 talk Good, Better, Best. It reminded me of the steps I can take to identify the “better” things we should do “by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it.”

How interesting President Oaks reminds us the first step is to recognize or be conscious of doing something good is not the same as doing what is best. Immediately I “recognized” my tendency to distract myself. For example, my house becomes super clean as I wander around in thought or listen to my audiobooks while dusting and scrubbing, to avoid working on something I feel inadequate to accomplish. I easily justify that cleaning my house is also important. It may sound silly, but facing my inadequacies can be hard and painful. Yet, President Oaks’ words awakened my memory that “[t]he number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.”

This is why I need to rid myself of my unending, impossible to-do list and my tendency to complicate my tasks & assignments. I tend to get caught up in the minutia, trying to cover every point, dotting more than every i and crossing all the consonants instead of just the t’s. By the end of the day, I am exhausted, frustrated, and feeling empty; the kind of empty that hot chocolate, movies and media cannot fill.

During days when these burdens and tasks bring me to a place where I want to crawl in bed, pull the covers over my head and wait for the sun to rise the next day, I fall to my knees or sometimes curl up in a ball under my covers, and I pray.

It is in these moments, when I am overwhelmed and have gone too far, not seeing a way out, that I go back to the basics. I plead for comfort, peace, and relief as I cry out: “I can’t do this! I am completely overwhelmed and have taken too much on. Please help me see what Thou needs me to do today and give me the strength to see it through.”

In response to my pleadings, I sometimes feel a warmth from head to toe and receive clarity. It is quite amazing. Other times silence persists. Usually, this is an invitation for me to repent, to forgive, to seek the Son of God more diligently; so I can face those things which are most hard, uncomfortable, or difficult for me.

At these moments I feel much like the Prodigal’s son yearning to return home. I can feel the words from Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing² stirring in my soul.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

This beautiful hymn brings me back to the why of the Christmas season with its joy and beauty – the celebration of the birth of the Savior and His enduring love for us all. Jesus Christ is the reason we have hope of redemption.

It also reminds me of President Nelson’s word’s of hope “that we will not miss the majesty of this moment!” of seeing “[t]he Lord . . . hastening His work” by “building temples at such an unprecedented pace.³” That as we travel the roads of being engaged in gathering Israel on both sides of the veil, we will help to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ; for it “is [His] work and [His] glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.⁴” It is the Savior who makes it possible for us endure to the end and return to our Heavenly home.

Notes:

  1. See Joseph Smith-History 1:39
  2. Come Thou Font of Every Blessing; Text:Robert Robinson, 1758; alt.; Music: , 1813; alt.; arr. 2024 | Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second, 1813; alt.; arr. 2024 | NETTLETON; Music arr. © 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. This song may be copied for incidental, noncommercial Church or home use.
  3. President Russell M. Nelson; The Lord Jesus Christ Will Come Again; General Conference, October 2024
  4. “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortalityand eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39)