Reading the Christmas story is not enough

“It is not enough simply to read the New Testament accounts of Jesus Christ. It is so much more important to repeat in our own way the simple and wonderful lessons He taught.

“If there is to be a change in this quarrelsome old world it must begin with each of us.

“And so our prayer at this wondrous season of Christmas is that we will look inward to test our own hearts and look outward for an opportunity to reach down and lift someone who is in need. It will not be difficult to find someone.

“Brothers and sisters, boys and girls, we can all be a little kinder, a little more patient, a little more helpful. We can all reach out to the very many who are in distress for any number of reasons. We can replace anger with love. We can put selfishness out of our lives. We can get on our knees and pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, and then stand on our feet and reach out bless the destitute, the poor, the oppressed, and those in trouble.”

President Gordon B. Hinckley
First Presidency Christmas Devotional
02-Dec-2001

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A moving real-life example of people reaching out to bless “the oppressed and those in trouble” is found in the following video just released as part of the LDS Church’s 2015 “A Savior Is Born” campaign. In the video, we see a group of friends and neighbors preparing a long-vacant home for the return of a woman and her children following the death of their husband and father – and the reaction of the family upon coming home, just before Christmas.

This video’s host, Stuart Edge, is an artist who creates wildly popular YouTube videos featuring magic tricks, pranks, and generally silly stuff.  He was featured in a Deseret News article earlier this year.

This article originally appeared in The Arrow Is Flown, a Tristan Baier weblog