Have a blessed Christmas 2025

This year, as I was consulting with Sally about how to prepare our Christmas card, we decided on the one shown below. I had previously thought of doing a life timeline for Jesus Christ on the inside, but Sally suggested the second nativity picture. Cindy was here and suggested using ChatGPT to create an image, and we did that and put it on the front page. I had selected the nativity scene that we put on page 2. Shown below are the two versions of the card.

Then, since postal services are not what they were when we grew up, when I remember going to the Post Office and licking many many postage stamps to attach to the many cards that my family sent to family and friends all around the Globe, I created a 'bookmark' type of card as I did last year, that can be sent in WhatsApp that is a very widely used social media platform in 2025 (and has been in use in our family from at least about 2008! It is difficult to see when we started to use it. Wikipedia says that it was originated in 2009 and so we have evidently used it from the outset.)

Bookmark version with timeline that I shared with very many friends and family.

Most people received the bookmark. Since our printer stopped working, I only printed about 6 copies, and gave Sally one of the best. So, here is the bookmark that can be opened in WhatsApp and zoomed in to see the timeline as well as it was visible in WhatsApp. And then the card.

Front

inside - timeline

Inside - Sally's choice

Most of the back is blank, so keep scrolling.

Back

It amazes me what can be done on the Internet, with major companies sharing facilities that enable one to send and store unimaginable amounts of data, media such as photos and videos, and such amazing things for making information available to so many people. This blog is an example of how much can be shared with so many people.

Here is something that I shared with a family member this morning who is concerned about having had her last Christmas with her granddaughter and our son and family being in Australia for the next few years.

In 2025 and 2026 we're able to be together in so many ways that were not dreamed of by our ancestors 5 generations back, or even when we were in our 20s. I can see how we can all see the Second Coming as it happens - when it happens. We can literally all see everything, live streamed or replayed, and not miss any important details ❤️ because of our time zone. The only thing that is important is that we are tuned in to the right broadcast and that our contact details are right so that we don't miss the notifications ☺️❤️

Sharing Christmas unity with all

I was prayerfully wondering what I could share with missionaries serving in and from our stake and some of my thoughts turned to a concern that I often see around me at this time of year. I helped with the layout of the December newsletter for the village where I live and the editor wanted a suitable picture, with some rose colours, that reflects this Christmas season. I invited Sally to suggest something and she suggested a picture of Mary and Jesus.

The editor rejected that suggestion because it could offend someone who is not a Christian, and so she inserted a picture of an angel. Another person that I assisted with some layout of pictures rejected the same suggestion and put in a picture of Santa Claus for the same reason – being politically correct. Well, full time missionaries mingling with many people of many different belief systems would be experiencing various responses from these people. I wonder why anyone might be offended by a picture of a mother and child but not be offended by a Christmas angel or Santa Claus/Father Christmas...? Ja well, no fine.

Image 1                        Image 2

I have reflected a lot on this and it occurs to me that the picture of a virgin and child should be uniting and not dividing of Christians and Jews, and even Muslims. Let me explain what the Spirit whispered to me in this regard.

We have been reading things in the Old Testament that would be beliefs that are shared by all Christians, by all Jews, and even Muslims. I think that it might not be so much what we share, but how we share it. Perhaps we can share an image of a mother and child in a way that will unite rather than divide the potential readers. 

The Jews today, as were those in Jerusalem 2022 years ago, are looking forward to the birth of a child – a son, and ‘the government shall be upon His shoulder, and whose name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this’ (See Isaiah 9:6-7). This child will be born to ‘a virgin who shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel’ (See Isaiah 7:14-16). Seeing a picture of a beautiful young woman with a newborn baby should help them to think positively of their hoped-for Messiah. Perhaps it could help them to reflect on all that the promise of their Messiah can mean to them now and for always, and how they can be sure that they are prepared for that Messiah.

The Muslims read a great deal in the Qur’an about Jesus, the son of Mary, who was a great prophet, and who had a really unique parenthood. Jesus and Mary are each mentioned more than 30 times, and Jesus, the son of Mary, is mentioned as the Messiah (See Aal-I-Imraan 45, An-Nisaa 157). They recognise that the birth of Jesus was unprecedented, and that Jesus is unique among all people. Jesus, the son of Mary, constantly directed them to worship Allah, the one God. They hold both Mary and Jesus in truly great esteem, as none other. Seeing a picture that represents this mother and son should help them to strive to draw closer to Allah as Jesus is declared to have taught and exemplified.

We all worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the one God, and Jesus constantly directed His disciples to worship that one God and none else. We all look reverently on Mary, Jesus – that virgin, that child. We can all choose to be uniting and inclusive as we share this image of this mother and child. Satan would grab this, as any other opportunity that is available, to be a cause of dispute, of divisiveness – to turn anyone that he can possibly turn from following that one God, or to contend one with another. There is divine reason to remind all of the unifying symbolism of this mother and child. I love what my parents very often had us read in our Family Home Evenings – 3 Nephi 11:28-30. ‘...And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been. For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.’

May we all seek reasons to agree, to be united  – to be Zion – of one heart and one mind. May the Lord bless us as we help Him to gather His sheep. He knows where they are! He will send us, as He did to Elder William Holmes Walker in about November 1853, directing him to leave Cape Town and go to the Eastern parts of the Cape Colony. He spent most of his time (about 72 weeks) in the vicinity of Fort Beaufort as opposed to 35 weeks in the vicinity of Cape Town. While in the vicinity of Fort Beaufort, where there is now no unit of the Church, Elder Walker was instrumental in bringing several people into the Church, and leading a party to Zion, including people skilled in construction, commerce, agriculture, and other professions that contributed significantly to Zion, and to the loss of the community that remained in the eastern part of the Cape Colony. The Lord knows His sheep and guides His missionaries to gathering them.

Blessings on each of you who reads this blog as you seek out the Lord’s chosen and help them to feel one with the Lord, whether they call Him Heavenly Father, Father God, Allah, Jehovah, or whatever. May we help them to feel one and not be offended by symbols such as the mother and son. I hope that these rambling thoughts inspire us in the Lord’s work, or that they might be inspiring to someone with whom we may feel prompted to share them. May we be effective in helping the Lord to gather Zion on both sides of the veil by helping to unite all from any of our many and diverse belief systems. 

Appreciating Providence

Today is Christmas eve. As I prayed this morning, I was thinking  about a TV set. It has become what it is to support the great industry that creates the content. Without the content, there would be no TV such as we have it. Entertainment, news, sport, learning, whatever the content, it's there, and so the means of presenting it to you on small to large screens was invented, developed, refined, marketed – all the steps involved in the process – and you get to watch the content. 

But you cannot enjoy the content without access to those devices that bring you the content, ensuring power and signal to those devices, and, in most cases, a paid subscription. The content is there whether you watch or not, but so many things are entirely within your control and choices that you make determine what content you view. 

When viewing, almost everything is living someone else's dreams and not particularly bringing you any closer to any of your own worthwhile dreams. All too often, time that we choose to spend watching what other people have dreamed actually prevents us from achieving some of the dreams that we really do want to achieve for ourselves!

I love the beauty of the sun today, the rain that fell yesterday that is so much needed in this severe drought, the fresh air, the mountains, great rivers and small streams, vegetation, all manner of life. All things that beautify this Earth whereon we dwell, that please the eye and gladden the heart. I praise my Messiah for His great providence and I desire to do all that I can to benefit from the 'content' that He wants me to enjoy. That is why He created it all. I love Him for it. 

This Christmas, and in the next year, let us enjoy the providence of a loving creator who has made so much 'content' available, by having the devices, power, signal, subscriptions, or whatever is required and within our control, to enjoy what He makes freely and abundantly available to us. 

I hope and pray that each end every one of us will give our love and devotion to Him – Jesus Christ – and His and our Heavenly Father, this Christmas and throughout the next year, to enjoy and benefit from His providence. I know that He is the great Creator. I love His creations. 

I have talked to Heavenly Father in prayer, and He has talked to me through the scriptures. This is not just some urban legend that I am sharing that someone somewhere sometime may have experienced, but this is my firsthand witness that I share from Cape Town on this, the day before Christmas 2016.

How did Jesus feel - how would I have felt?

I spoke on Sunday before Christmas 2014 on the theme of the mortal life of Jesus Christ. In my preparations I recalled a song I learned in Primary more than 50 years ago. Number 55 in the current Children’s Song Book.

1. Jesus once was a little child,

A little child like me;

And he was pure and meek and mild,

As a little child should be.

2. He played as little children play

The pleasant games of youth;

But he never got vexed if the game went wrong,

And he always spoke the truth.

So, little children,

Let's you and I

Try to be like him,

Try, try, try.

Words: James R. Murray, 1841-1905

Music: Joseph Ballantyne, 1868-1944

I realised during the week that in studying the scriptures, as challenged in Moroni 10:3-5, we are instructed to read these things, then to compare them to the Bible, to ponder and to pray. Four elements. We cannot fully remember (compare) how merciful the ‘remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things’ if we are not familiar with the accounts of how merciful the Lord has been to the children of men from the days of Adam to now. So we need to read both old and new scriptures in order to make a comparison between the feelings of reading each. Then we need to ponder, and to pray.

I also realised in likening the scriptures to myself, that Jesus was in a rather interesting situation. He grew up among children in Egypt in his early years. Then when his family returned to Nazareth He probably grew up with a missing cohort of children because Herod had exterminated two years’ worth of children. His mother had received a visit from Gabriel explaining the absolutely unusual situation of her being a virgin, but with a child of divine origin. Joseph had been reassured in a dream that it was alright to marry Mary because she was a worthy virgin. But did Mary’s parents believe her story? Did Joseph’s parents believe him? Did siblings and grandparents believe them? Did He believe His divine calling? He certainly was an ‘odd boy out’ with a very different story behind his conception, birth and upbringing, almost certainly prejudice about the nature of His birth. He had very great expectations laid on Him by his mother Mary, Joseph, and God. How would I cope if I were such an odd-one-out in school and community? I was in a school of about 1200 students and 10 LDS students. Many youth are the only LDS student at school. How about these unique circumstances that Jesus faced?

Jesus attended the festivals and received the ordinances expected of Him as He grew. Circumcision, Bar Mitzvah, baptism. He learned from the sowers, the reapers, the shepherds, the housewives, and from anything that He could. Then he used object lessons from these everyday experiences in His teaching. His study would have confirmed His divine mission, giving Him strength to accept and live up to the unique mission that He had in life. Does my study of the scriptures help to confirm my divine heritage? Do I seek to understand my divine heritage as I study?

It strikes me that He did not say something like ‘Choose a doctrine that appeals to you and affiliate yourself with the sect that teaches that'. He said in effect ‘My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me.’ And ‘Come, follow me’. He was extremely patient with and encouraging to the repentant soul, but never condoned the unrepentant sinner.  He called all to repentance and to rise to even greater heights. To the worthy rich young ruler, who I would suggest was worthy of a Temple Recommend, He said ‘one thing lackest thou yet. Sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and come follow me’.  He affirmed this worthy young man, even loved him for his obedience and faithfulness, but did not say that was OK, but He challenged Him to reach for even greater things.

So, we need to be familiar with the scriptures and to reflect on them, learning, growing, gaining insight through comparison and pondering. We need to surrender our wills to the will of the Father as Christ did in Gethsemane. 

I bear solemn witness that Jesus is our Messiah, from eternity to eternity. I hope that I will always follow His example and challenge myself to reach for greater heights, to repent, to constantly improve.

Post on http://mormon.org/christmas

Hi all

See my post on http://mormon.org/christmas as I was thinking about some of my memories relating the reason for the season - see 'Join the Conversation: Share what Christmas means to you.'

I have once experienced the build up to Christmas in Berlin and England. But every other Christmas for me has been in the southern hemisphere where it is really hot! Having had the experience in the north I can appreciate better what is meant by the feeling of the season. For us the warmth of the Spirit is felt in a hot climate and there is no contrast with the chill of the air. We have a lovely experience, but it is a hot experience in the middle of hot weather, if you know what I mean? 

But one year I was working as a botanist in the Namib Desert and my Christmas day was spent with friends who were not at all religious. I reflected on their making merry and really enjoying Christmas, but with no thought of the 'reason for the season'. That contrast of the purpose for celebrating Christmas made it more special for me as I reflected on my normal Christmas at home with family, thinking about the Christ Child born in a manger in Israel. I often think of the fact that it was probably fairly hot weather in Bethlehem on the Passover season when He was born. So I don't feel that we are really missing out having hot Christmas weather. In a way it helps me to relate to the birth in Bethlehem. I hope that whether you have hot weather or cold weather, that you will think of the little Babe born, kicking and fidgeting as his Mighty Spirit grew accustomed to His small mortal frame as it was laid in the manger on that first night. So began His great mission of teaching, establishing His Church and introducing His Gospel, and ultimately atoning for our sins and ushering in the resurrection in the Gardens of Gethsemane and Golgotha thirty-four passover seasons later. Shalom!

I was at Sandwich Harbour that Christmas day in 1978. I recorded in my journal that the other five people in our group insisted on there being a Christmas tree, and 'in the absence of all else a branch of Tamarix usneoides, not unlike a cedar tree in general appearance, has been adorned with all sorts of makeshift decorations. It looks attractive, but I wondered just why they celebrate Christmas. Does the name Jesus Christ have any significance, or is it just a gay, socially acceptable time to get sozzled?'

I thought I had a photo of our makeshift Christmas tree, but I cannot find one. Sorry, it was a good tree considering the limitations.

Have a lovely Christmas with lots of thought about the Lord Jesus Christ as you celebrate His birthday, and think what gift you can give to Him.

Les