Good gifts

I’ve spent a lot of time today thinking of Christmases past, reminiscing a bit. I’ve been thinking a lot about my mother the past couple of days. I will write more about that in a minute.

The above picture is from Christmas Eve long ago when my brother Joe, who was supposed to be a shepherd, fell over from the sheer force of his swing as he was trying to wack my other brother, John, with the sleeve of his robe. This blurry old picture is mid-fall. :)

And here’s Joe, stealing the baby Jesus:

And this would be my other brother, wrestling Joe to the ground to get the baby back:

(Libby–As you can see, I’ve got the goods on Joe…there’s plenty more where that came from.)

But back to my mom. :)

I have kept seeing this image of my mom in my mind for the past few days. I can remember her so well this particular Christmas morning, and though I can’t remember a single thing I got right off hand, I can remember her face. She was so happy, and her smile was so sweet as she watched the six of us open our gifts. She was so glad give us those gifts and to watch us receive them. I know she’ll hate that I put a picture of it up, because she had wet hair and no makeup, but to me, this is one of my fondest memories of her lovely face.

She radiated the joy of a mother giving to her children. Though this is a blurry image, I can see her love clearly. As this image has been in my mind over the past few days, I have constantly reflected on one of my favorite verses of scripture:

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Matthew 7:11

I have felt my Father in Heaven’s love for me so much this season. I have asked Him for help every day, almost at every moment, and He has showered me with “good things.” I don’t know how exactly to express it, other than to say that I truly know that He loves us, and truly gives “good things to them that ask Him.”

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