Lessons I learned in Primary

I'm always very emotional at Christmas, but especially now that I have children. I can't help but think about Mary, nine months pregnant, riding on a donkey into Bethlehem, likely in labor for the last part of the journey at least. I think of how bad your body hurts at that point of pregnancy and how uncomfortable you are. How hard it is to give birth even in the best of circumstances, which she did not have. How good she must have been, how hard it was but how she probably didn't complain. I think of them arriving and not being able to find a place to stay; how Joseph must have felt, unable to provide for his wife who was so uncomfortable. How humiliated he would have been to lead her into a stable, clear the animals away, and help her bring the Savior of the world into his earthly life. How these humble circumstances were the beginning of the greatest gift the world has ever known. I can't imagine the kind of people these were: so humble and full of faith. Can you imagine hearing from an angel that you were going to bear the son of God? Trying to raise the son of God? I can't even fathom it. I think of the faithful shepherds who heard the angel's announcement, and then a choir of angels sing. I secretly (I guess not so secretly anymore) wish I was there, singing about the birth of Christ to these humble men. I love thinking about the Christmas story.

Jeffrey R. Holland said this in 1995:

...what Joseph must have felt as he moved through the streets of a city not his own, with not a friend or kinsman in sight, nor anyone willing to extend a helping hand. In these very last and most painful hours of her “confinement,” Mary had ridden or walked approximately 160 kilometers from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea. Surely Joseph must have wept at her silent courage. Now, alone and unnoticed, they had to descend from human company to a stable, a grotto full of animals, there to bring forth the Son of God. I wonder what emotions Joseph might have had as he cleared away the dung and debris. I wonder if he felt the sting of tears as he hurriedly tried to find the cleanest straw and hold the animals back. I wonder if he wondered: “Could there be a more unhealthy, a more disease-ridden, a more despicable circumstance in which a child could be born? Is this a place fit for a king? Should the mother of the Son of God be asked to enter the “valley of the shadow of death” (Ps. 23:4) in such a foul and unfamiliar place as this? Is it wrong to wish her some comfort? Is it right He should be born here?” But I am certain Joseph did not mutter and Mary did not wail. They knew a great deal and did the best they could.
Perhaps these parents knew even then that in the beginning of his mortal life, as well as in the end, this baby son born to them would have to descend beneath every human pain and disappointment. He would do so to help those who also felt they had been born without advantage. (to read the rest of it click here. It's the BEST talk).

I love Christmas. I love giving and getting gifts and being reminded of the gifts the wise men brought. I love thinking about the little baby Jesus, the mother Mary, and kind and gentle Joseph. I learned in primary to picture a Christmas like this, and I try to every year. I am so thankful that Christ was born and that we get to celebrate and remember especially at this time of year.

Picture a stable in Judea.

Picture a sacred, silent night.

And can you hear the angels near

And see the stars so bright?

Picture the kind and gentle Joseph.

Picture the mother, Mary, fair.

And can you see so reverently

the shepherds kneeling there?

Picture the little baby Jesus

Think of his life and words so dear

Sing praise to him; remember him

As you picture Christmas this year.

(CS p. 50)

art by Liz Lemon Swindle