"...the God of All Comfort..." (2 Corinthians 1:3)

Christ is the light of the world.
I choose to focus on the light

I realize that there is so much suffering, hurt, sorrow, misery, injustice, and pain in the world from which I am sheltered. I cannot imagine what some people must endure from their own choices, other people's choices, and just part of living in a physical world. It's too easy to get sucked into the "dark" if I focus on all the bad things that happen every day in the world. Therefore I choose to focus on the "light", even the Light of Christ. It is defined as: "Divine energy, power, or influence that proceeds from God through Christ and gives life and light to all things" (Light). I love that light is divine energy and power. I can feel this power as I make good choices and focus on the love that God has for all of His children.
  
I also choose to focus on hope. There is always hope! Hope is defined as: "The confident expectation of and longing for the promised blessings of righteousness" (Hope). This hope- even a "perfect brightness of hope" (2 Nephi 31:20) which brings peace, joy, and relief, can only come from One True Source, even Jesus Christ. He is "the God of peace" (Romans 15:33).

I can imagine a "God of peace" (Romans 16:20). Even the "Prince of Peace"(Isaiah 9:6). I can imagine and feel hope because- He lives (D&C 76:22)!

God offers us peace and comfort. And not just the absence of war or contention. But true peace that calms the "troubled heart" (see John 14:1).

"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God" (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

A Heavenly Father is there to comfort us. A Savior. Our Savior is there to comfort us in our darkest hours. In our painful hours. In the hours of joy and sorrow, He is there to comfort us and to rejoice with us.

I have found that where there is pain there is also joy, because we cannot have one without the other, neither light without darkness (see 2 Nephi 2:11). As I endure physical pain, I am appreciative of this statement by Orson F. Whitney:

No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience, is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father" (Joy in the Journey)

The truth is, Jesus Christ is the source of hope and "the God of all comfort" (2 Corinthians 1:3). Even in our darkest hours, which indeed we may come to find that they are our finest hours, will be filled with light (see The Great Plan of the Eternal God). He is the divine light that fills our hearts with joy, even in the midst of suffering. This I testify.

I love to see the light He offers me. In it I find comfort and joy.

"...She brought forth her first born son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes..." (Luke 2:7)

As I stood in the line at the post-office the other day and I watched people shove their wrapped packages into boxes to be mailed I thought of how much I like wrapping presents. I also thought of how fun it is to watch others unwrap the gifts I have given them. And then I thought of the most amazing gift that was ever wrapped...and unwrapped, just for us.

Of course that gift given to us is Jesus Christ, "she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped Him in waddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn" (Luke 2:7). This is a priceless gift. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6; 2 Nephi 19:6). What an incredible gift, to receive the Savior of the world, wrapped just for us through one who "hast found favour with God" (Luke 1:30).

The word Christmas was originally from Christ's mass, "meaning the holy mass" (Wikipedia, Christmas Etymoloy). It was pointing to the death of Jesus Christ. In understanding the "plan of redemption" (Guide to the Scriptures) we know that the death of Christ wasn't the end, but the beginning of immortality for all mankind. It is a wonderful blessing to be able to realize that when Jesus Christ was "wrapped...in... linen, and laid...in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock"(Mark 15:46) He was not there permanently, but after three days would be unwrapped and "He shall rise again" (Mark 10:34), and He did rise again. "He lives" (D&C 76:22)! "Christ Jesus hath made [us] free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2). What an incredible gift to unwrap, Jesus Christ died and is risen again so that we too may live again and are not bound by the chains of death and hell (see Alma 5:7; D&C 138:23).

The challenge for us is to receive the Gift of Christ in our lives daily, not just at Christmas time, or even just on Sundays, but every day. How do we actually unwrap this priceless gift that was given because "He first loved us" (1 John 4:19)? How can we unwrap Christ into our lives? There are the pad answers of serve others (see Mosiah 2:17), keep the commandments (see John 15:10), "pray always" (D&C 5:10) and many others which all definitely unwrap Christ immediately into our lives. But there is one that I realized we may do unconsciously at times. This is comparing ourselves, for good or ill to others, such as, "I am not as bad as so and so". When we are doing this we have just unwrapped someone else's gift and short changed ourselves from unwrapping the real gift Christ has to offer us. The gift of a better us, not a better them because we can only change ourselves. If we can first see the "beam that is in thine own eye" (Luke 6:42) then we will be able to unwrap the true gift that is really there just waiting to shine forth. "The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single [to the glory of God], thy whole body shall be full of light" (3 Nephi 13:22; Matthew 6:22; see also D&C 88:67). Light that comes from Christ! As we look to cleanse the inward first (see Alma 60:23) and not compare ourselves to others, for good or ill, we will see those things, or "beams" (Luke 6:42) that need to be changed. They will be changed as we unwrap Christ in our life and use His gift of the atonement and repent and allow Him to heal us and change us and make them into beams of light rather than beams of burden.

Christ was "wrapped...in swaddling clothes" (Luke 2:7) and unwrapped the bandages of death for "He is risen" (Matthew 28:6). We can unwrap Him every day in our lives as we repent and receive His gift of "mercy and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified" (Mosiah 4:2). This I testify is what Christ gives to us for Christmas and everyday all year long. We just need to unwrap it.