One of my favorite things to do each year is sit in our living room with a cup of hot cocoa and admire our Christmas tree after the kids have all gone to bed. For me light is an important part of the holiday because of it's symbolic allusions to Christ.
I love to see my daughter pass the sacrament to me. When she does so, she does it with the filial authority only my daughter holds.
Today I feel I understand better the true cleansing power of the Atonement. My family was breaking because of my sin, but we are more “at one” because of our return to the Savior.
When we reduce all of our sins down to a matter of “good, better, best” we lull ourselves into a false sense of security and never face the parts of us that truly frighten us - the parts that actively choose to go against God's will.
We have to see others not as the source of our pain, but as flawed human beings also in pain and need of help from divinity. To do this we have to let go of our hurt. We need to freely forgive.
